ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1576629
Association between nighttime sleep duration and cognitive function in middle-aged and elderly patients with multimorbidity: the mediating role of depression
Provisionally accepted
- 1school of nursing, Xi’an Innovation College of Yan’an University , china, Shaanxi, China
- 2Department of Interventional Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Shaanxi, China
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Objective: To investigate the mediating role of depression in the relationship between nighttime sleep duration and cognitive function among middle-aged and elderly patients with multimorbidity, providing insights for mitigating cognitive decline. Methods: Utilizing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (2015 and 2020 waves), 4,210 participants with ≥2 chronic conditions were included. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted to examine associations between sleep duration, depression , and cognitive function. Results: The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 35.7%. Nighttime sleep duration showed a weak positive correlation with cognitive function (r = 0.071, p < 0.01) and a stronger negative correlation with depression (r = -0.251, p < 0.01). Depression was negatively correlated with cognitive function (r = -0.262, p < 0.01). Mediation analysis revealed that depression fully mediated the sleep-cognition relationship (indirect effect: 0.120, 95% CI [0.100-0.141]; direct effect nonsignificant). Conclusion: Depression fully mediates the association between nighttime sleep duration and cognitive function in multimorbidity patients. Interventions targeting sleep hygiene and mental health may synergistically alleviate cognitive decline in this population.
Keywords: multimorbidity, nighttime sleep duration, Cognitive Function, Depression, Chronic Disease
Received: 14 Feb 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 MING, Yu and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Liu Xing Yu, Department of Interventional Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Shaanxi, China
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