Associations between sleep and episodic memory performance in a diverse adult lifespan community-based sample: The...

While studies have shown that non-Latinx Black and Latinx adults sleep less and more poorly than non-Latinx White adults, the cognitive consequences of poor sleep in non-Latinx Black and Latinx adults are understudied. We hypothesized that poorer quality sleep and short or long sleep durations are associated with poorer memory performance, and the strength of these associations differs by racial and ethnic group.

Our analysis included non-Latinx Black, non-Latinx White, and Latinx participants across the adult lifespan recruited from the community of Northern Manhattan as a part of the Offspring study. Participants self-reported their sleep duration and quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. We evaluated memory with the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. We used multivariable regression to estimate associations between sleep duration and quality with delayed recall.

In the overall sample, higher quality sleep was associated with better delayed recall performance. We also found linear and quadratic relationships between sleep duration and delayed recall. Taken together, higher quality sleep and adequate sleep duration were linked with better delayed recall. Stratified analyses revealed that these effects were strongest in the Latinx group but were not present among non-Latinx Black and non-Latinx White participants.

We observed associations between poor sleep quality and sleep duration and memory performance in Latinx adults. Future work will determine which psychosocial factors (e.g., social support, discrimination) underlie racial and ethnic sleep disparities and mediate racial and ethnic differences in the cognitive consequences of poor sleep.