The relationships between sleep disturbance and falls: A systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was to examine critically the literature that addresses the association between sleep disturbance and falls. Electronic databases OVID MEDLINE, PubMed, and CINAHL were searched using MeSH terms "sleep" and "accidental falls." Search limits included adults, humans, and English. The articles selected for the final sample were assessed for methodological quality. Eleven key attributes of sleep disturbance were extracted. The search yielded 177 articles from OVID MEDLINE, 124 from PubMed, and 46 from CINAHL. The final sample included 42 papers. The mean methodological quality score was 7.5 (range 2-10). Those who self-report >11 h or ≤5 h of nocturnal sleep duration may have a greater fall risk, but variations in cutoff points, study designs, and data collection methods contribute to difficulty in comparing study results. Subjective sleep fragmentation is associated with falls. The few studies on obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia demonstrate evidence of an increased risk for falls. It remains unclear whether daytime sleepiness, self-reported sleep quality, snoring, or napping are associated with falls, since some but not all studies demonstrate an association and the study quality did not differ.