Exterior housing conditions are associated with objective measures of poor sleep among low-income older adults with disabilities

Objective: To examine the association of housing and neighborhood conditions with sleep among disadvantaged older adults. Methods: We used data from 136 low-income, predominantly Black older adults with disabilities. Predictors were indices of: interior housing conditions (eg, pests, tripping hazards); exterior housing conditions (eg, broken windows); and neighborhood disorder (eg, litter, vacant buildings). Outcomes were actigraphic total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep efficiency (SE). Results: In models adjusted for age, sex, education, living arrangement, comorbidities, and physical performance, each additional exterior housing problem was associated with 20.9-minutes less TST (95% confidence interval [CI]:-39.2,-2.6), 8.6-minutes more WASO (95% CI: 0.7, 16.5), and 2.3% lower SE (95% CI:-4.2,-0.4). The associations of interior housing conditions and neighborhood disorder with the sleep parameters were of smaller magnitude and not statistically significant. Conclusions: Future studies should examine the effects of housing repair on sleep health. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of National Sleep Foundation.