Short sleep duration is associated with a wide variety of medical conditions among United States military service members

Objectives: This cross-sectional study investigated self-reported sleep duration and its association with a comprehensive range of clinically-diagnosed medical condition categories (CDMCs), as well as the relationship between short sleep duration (≤6 h) and demographic/lifestyle factors, among United States military service members (SMs).

Methods: A stratified random sample of SMs (n = 20,819) completed an online questionnaire on usual daily hours of sleep and demographic/lifestyle characteristics. CDMCs for a six-month period prior to questionnaire completion were obtained from a comprehensive military electronic medical surveillance system and grouped into 33 CDMCs covering both broad and specific medical conditions. Prevalence of CDMCs was compared among three sleep duration categories (≤4, 5-6 and ≥7 h).

Results: SMs reported a mean ± standard deviation of 6.3 ± 1.4 h of sleep per day. After adjustment for demographic/lifestyle characteristics, shorter sleep duration was associated with higher odds of a medical condition in 25 of 33 CDMCs, with most (n = 20) demonstrating a dose-response relationship. The five CDMCs with the largest differences between ≤4 vs ≥ 7 h sleep were: diseases of the nervous system (odds ratio [OR] = 2.9, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 2.4-3.4), mental/behavioral diseases (OR = 2.7, 95%CI = 2.3-3.2), diseases of the musculoskeletal system (OR = 1.9, 95%CI = 1.6-2.1), diseases of the circulatory system (OR = 1.7, 95%CI = 1.3-2.2), and diseases of the digestive system (OR = 1.6, 95%CI = 1.2-2.0). Six hours of sleep or less was independently associated with older age, less formal education, race, Hispanic ethnicity, higher body mass index, smoking, and military service branch.

Conclusions: In this young, physically active population, reporting shorter sleep duration was associated with a higher risk of multiple CDMCs.