Multimorbidity is a major public health challenge; in high income countries, more than half of older adults have at least two chronic diseases, and overall ageing population trends mean this figure is likely to grow. While sleep duration is known to be associated with several chronic diseases, our understanding of its relationship with multimorbidity remains incomplete. In this issue of PLOS Medicine, Séverine Sabia and colleagues present 25-year follow-up data from the Whitehall II cohort study of British civil servants. Observational data from the study suggest that short sleep duration (≤5 hours) at ages 50, 60, and 70 is associated with a greater risk of incident multimorbidity, while for long sleep duration (≥9 hours), this association is only apparent at ages 60 and 70. The former observation suggests that good sleep hygiene is beneficial in midlife and older age, though the authors note that the latter may reflect a need for longer sleep in individuals with underlying chronic conditions.
Image Credit: Abdülkadir Vardi, Unsplash
Perspective
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