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Association between muscle strength and sleep quality and duration among middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review

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Key summary points

AbstractSection Aim

To investigate the association between sleep quality and duration and muscle strength among community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults.

AbstractSection Findings

According to the present review, it seems that there is an association between sleep quality and duration with handgrip strength among middle-aged and older adults. The results for the gender-specific impact and the different sleep duration (short or long or both) are inconsistent.

AbstractSection Message

Health professionals should conduct geriatric assessment and consider the possible coexistence of impaired sleep with weak muscle strength, especially in older adults who are at high risk of sarcopenia, frailty or functional limitations.

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the relationship between sleep quality and duration and muscle strength among community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted from March 2020 until May 2020. Searches were done for peer-reviewed and English-written articles reporting results of studies in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and in article references lists. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses was used as well as the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) to appraise the methodological quality.

Results

Twenty-one cross-sectional, three prospective studies and a total of 92,363 subjects were included. The majority of the included studies are classified as “high quality”. Handgrip strength is the main method of muscle strength assessment. Sleep assessment is usually conducted using subjective measures, such as validated sleep scales or self-reported questionnaires. Actigraphy, as an objective measure, is used less often. Most studies support strong evidence on the association between weak muscle strength and poor sleep quality and duration among middle-aged and older adults; whereas the results for the gender-specific association and the impact of short or long sleep duration were inconclusive.

Conclusion

This review has identified strong evidence on the relationship between sleep quality and duration and muscle strength among middle-aged and older adults. Health professionals should consider this relationship as a component of geriatric assessment in community practice and geriatric settings. Future rigorous research with a combination of subjective and objective measurements is needed to explore whether gender and specific sleep duration are related to muscle strength.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Anastasia Pana, Panayota Sourtzi, Athina Kalokairinou & Venetia Sofia Velonaki

  2. Hellenic Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Athens, Greece

    Anastasia Pana, Panayota Sourtzi, Athina Kalokairinou, Alexandros Pastroudis & Venetia Sofia Velonaki

  3. General Hospital Asklepieio Voulas, Voula, Greece

    Anastasia Pana, Alexandros Pastroudis & Stamatios-Theodoros Chatzopoulos

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  1. Anastasia Pana
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Contributions

AP conceived the idea for the study. AP and VSV performed the literature search and the data analysis. The manuscript was drafted by AP and VSV. All authors finalized, provided critical review, and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anastasia Pana.

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Pana, A., Sourtzi, P., Kalokairinou, A. et al. Association between muscle strength and sleep quality and duration among middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review. Eur Geriatr Med 12, 27–44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-020-00399-8

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