Long Sleep Duration Is Associated With Increased Frailty Risk in Older Community-Dwelling Adults

Objective: To examine whether sleep duration is correlated with increased frailty risk and investigate the determinants of frailty status. Method: Data on 3,632 participants from the 2011 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, community-dwelling >60 years, 52.1% prefrail, 13.6% frail, 55% women) were used. Frailty status was categorized by Fried Phenotype (robust, prefrail, and frail) with customized criteria for the NHANES data set. Hours of self-reported sleep duration were categorized as short (⩽6), normal (7-9), and long (⩾10). Multinomial regression analysis identified risk factors for each frailty state. Results: Only long sleep duration was associated with increased odds (2.86 [1.09-7.50]) of being characterized as frail but not prefrail. Frail and prefrail states had shared risk factors but also had many distinct to each state. Discussion: Sleep duration is a potential, modifiable therapeutic target for frailty management. Multicomponent interventions should be tailored for frailty status.