Mina Kim1, Young-Hoon Lee1,2

1 Jeollabukdo Public Health Care Policy Institution, Iksan, Korea 2 Department of Preventive Medicine and Institute of Wonkwang Medical Science, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, Iksan, Korea


Background: This study aimed to examine the difference of sleep quality between family members of dementia patients and general population in community.
Methods: Participants (n=215,676) aged 19 years and over in the 2018 Korea Community Health Survey were classified into three groups; family members living at home with a person with dementia (FHD; n=2,445), family members living separately from a person with dementia (FSD; n=9,132), and family members without a person with dementia in the family (FwoD; n=204,099). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index greater than 6 points was regarded as poor sleep quality (PSQ). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore the associa- tions between living with dementia patients and PSQ.
Results: The prevalence of PSQ was 48.3% in FHD, 40.7% in FSD, and 38.8% in FwoD. After adjusting for po- tential confounders, compared to FwoD, the odds ratio for PSQ was 1.42 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-1.54) in FHD and 1.22 (95% CI, 1.17-1.27) in FSD. Additionally, almost all age- and sex-stratified family of dementia patients, except for the youngest (<40 years) men of FHD and the youngest (<40 years) men of FSD, had a higher risk for PSQ than FwoD.
Conclusions: Both FHD and FSD have lower sleep quality than FwoD. Public psychological interventions and supports are needed to family members of dementia patients in the community.
Korean J Health Promot 2023;23(3):139-146

Keywords: Dementia, Family, Sleep quality, Health surveys