Older people with HIV (PWH) experience heightened risk for the acquisition of cumulative, multisystem decline, that is, frailty syndrome. Frailty relates to poorer sleep quality in the general older adult population; however, this association has yet to be explored among PWH. A cross-sectional analysis of 285 PWH ≥50 years of age (mean age 60.5 ± 7.0) examined the relationship between frailty (Fried frailty phenotype) and self-reported sleep quality [Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)]. Three separate multivariable linear regression models examined global PSQI as a function of (1) frailty phenotype, (2) total number of frailty symptoms, or (3) specific individual frailty symptoms. Models covaried for demographic and biopsychosocial risk factors, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, premorbid verbal IQ estimate, current depressive symptoms, and diagnosis of a substance abuse disorder. Compared to nonfrail (B = 0.151; p = .021) and prefrail (B = 0.144; p = .021), frail phenotype was related to poorer sleep quality (increased global PSQI; F(5,278) = 11.34, p < .001; R2 = 0.17). Increased number of frailty symptoms (B = 0.144; p = .019; F(4,276) = 12.719, p < .001; R2 = 0.16) and exhaustion was associated with increased global PSQI scores (B = 0.218, p < .001; F(6,247) = 10.436, p < .001; R2 = 0.19). In all models, older age, female sex, and elevated current depressive symptoms were associated with poorer sleep quality. In older PWH, greater frailty symptoms related to poorer sleep quality, independent of psychosocial risk factors for poor sleep. Frailty and poor sleep individually have adverse effects on health and everyday functioning; thus, establishing this association may better aid providers to screen for and treat problems with sleep quality and/or frailty among PWH.
Keywords: AIDS; HIV; aging; depression.