Association of self-reported sleep problems with morbidities and multimorbidities according to sex: National Health Survey 2019

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between self-reported sleep problems and the presence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and multimorbidity, and whether these associations differ by sex. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study performed with data from the Brazilian National Health Survey, 2019. Prevalence ratios between morbidities, the number of NCDs, and the self-report of sleep problems were estimated by Poisson regression with robust variance, according to sex. RESULTS: This study analysed data from 85,531 Brazilians age ≥ 18 years. The self-reported sleep problems were associated with all the herein studied morbidities and multimorbidities. The prevalence of sleep problems was higher in those who stated one or two (PR = 2.37; 95%CI 2.22;2.54) and three or more NCDs (PR = 4.73; 95%CI 4.37;5.11). Prevalence ratios of the association with diabetes, lung disease, mental disease, renal disease and multimorbidities were higher among males. CONCLUSION: NCDs significantly impacted sleep quality, with a particularly stronger association in both, males and females.