Associations of dietary diversity and specific food intake with abnormal sleep duration and sleep quality among older adults in China.

OBJECTIVE: to examine associations of dietary diversity and specific food intake with abnormal sleep duration (< 6 h or > 8 h) and sleep quality among older adults in China. METHODS: this cross-sectional study used data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey and included 12,760 adults aged ≥ 65 years. A simplified food frequency questionnaire was used to assess 15 food categories and calculate a dietary diversity score (0-15). Sleep duration was classified as normal (6-8 h) or abnormal (< 6 h or > 8 h), and sleep quality was self-rated on a five-point scale. Binary logistic regression was used for abnormal sleep duration and ordinal logistic regression for sleep quality, adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health-related factors. RESULTS: each 1-point increase in dietary diversity score was associated with lower odds of abnormal sleep duration (OR 0.935, 95 % CI 0.919-0.951) and higher odds of better sleep quality (OR 1.117, 95 % CI 1.100-1.135). Compared with Q4, Q1 was associated with lower odds of abnormal sleep duration (OR 0.659, 95 % CI 0.588-0.739) and higher odds of better sleep quality (OR 1.804, 95 % CI 1.633-1.994), with significant dose-response relationships (p for trend < 0.001). After false discovery rate correction, higher intake of fresh fruits and vegetables was associated with lower odds of abnormal sleep duration, while higher intake of fresh fruits, eggs, legumes, and nuts was associated with better sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: higher dietary diversity was independently associated with lower odds of abnormal sleep duration and better sleep quality among older adults.