Background: Poor diet can cause sleep disorders; however, this association has not been established in older populations. This study investigated the association between dietary patterns and insomnia symptoms in independent older adults.
Methods: This cross-sectional study targeted independent older Japanese adults aged ≥74 years. We used insomnia symptoms classified into three domains: difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and insomnia. These symptoms were assessed as dependent variables by a self-reported questionnaire. Dietary patterns (DP), identified by principal component analysis of a self-administered diet history questionnaire, were used as independent variables. Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate the prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals with adjustment for potential confounders.
Results: Among 1,311 participants (mean age = 80.1; women, 48.5%), we identified three dietary patterns: DP1 was characterized by a high intake of vegetables, soy products, and fruits and a low intake of rice; DP2 was characterized by a high intake of fish, chicken, processed meat, and noodles and a low intake of soy products; and DP3 was characterized by a lower intake of fruits and confectionaries. Higher DP1 scores were significantly associated with a lower prevalence of DIS (p-for-trend = 0.012). A higher DP2 score was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of insomnia (p-for-trend = 0.032). There was no significant association between DP3 and insomnia symptoms (p-for-trend >0.05).
Conclusion: Our results highlighted that a dietary pattern with a high intake of vegetables, soy products, and fruits may contribute to reducing insomnia symptoms among independent older adults.
Keywords: Diet; Food intake; Sleep disorder; Sleep initiation and maintenance disorders.
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