Abstract
Abstract Introduction Insomnia prevalence among Hispanics is a significant public health concern, underscoring the need to uncover novel predictors of this sleep disorder. While prior studies have highlighted the high incidence of insomnia within this demographic, there is an urgent need to explore less-explored factors contributing to its development. Specifically, the impact of the sleep environment on insomnia symptoms in the Hispanic population. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating the relationship between sleep environment quality and insomnia severity among Hispanics in Florida, offering fresh insights into the predictors of insomnia within this group. Methods Analyses include data from a Hispanic population in Florida (N= 221), ages 18-87 years that were enrolled in the NIH-funded heart health study, DORMIR. Participants completed several surveys on behavioral, clinical, social, and environmental determinants of sleep. For the current study, we measured insomnia symptoms via the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the self-perceived quality of sleep environment was measured via the Assessment of Sleep Environment (ASE) survey. ISI measures presence and severity of insomnia symptoms and ASE asks respondents to rate their physical sleep environment by answering questions about the amount of light, temperature, and noise among other factors. Greater ISI scores indicate insomnia severity and greater ASE scores indicate worst sleep environment. To test whether sleep environment is associated with insomnia symptoms, we performed descriptive and inferential statistical analyses to characterize the sample as well as to determine the association between sleep environment and insomnia symptoms. Results Our population comprised 41% male (n=64) and 59% female (n=157). The mean ASE score of our total sample was 22.4±7.00 and the mean ISI score was 8.82±5.29. The regression model indicated that ASE was independently associated with ISI (F(1,219=6.09, B-0.12, p=0.0114), after controlling for sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical variables. Conclusion Our results indicate that poorer sleep environments are associated with greater insomnia symptoms. These findings can be used to increase awareness of the benefits of monitoring the quality of sleep environments and associated risk of experiencing insomnia. These findings also elucidate the importance of limiting nighttime disturbances to improve quality of sleep. Support (if any) 5R01HL152453