The Association Between Sleep Duration and Depression in U.S. Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study Using NHANES 2021–2023 Data

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_100How to use a DOI?

Keywords

sleep duration; depression; PHQ-9; general health; gender; NHANES; mental health; cross-sectional study

Abstract

Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder in the United States, influenced by both behavioral and health-related factors, including sleep duration and general health condition. This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration and depressive symptoms, and to examine whether gender modifies this relationship, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2021–2023. A total of 5,400 U.S. adults aged 18 and older were included. Sleep duration was categorized as short (<7 hours), normal (7–9 hours), and long (>9 hours), while depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), analyzed both as a binary outcome (score >9) and a continuous score. Multivariable logistic and linear regressions were conducted, adjusting for self-reported general health and testing gender interaction terms. The results indicated that both short and long sleep durations were significantly associated with increased odds of depression compared to normal sleep (adjusted odds ratios of 1.76 and 1.85, respectively). General health status was identified as a strong confounder in this association, while gender did not significantly modify the relationship. These findings were consistent in models using continuous PHQ-9 scores. In conclusion, sleep duration outside the 7–9 hour range is significantly associated with elevated depressive symptoms among U.S. adults, independent of overall health condition. Public health interventions that promote adequate sleep may contribute to improved mental well-being.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Chenxi Zhao
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/11
TI  - The Association Between Sleep Duration and Depression in U.S. Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study Using NHANES 2021–2023 Data
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 10th International Conference on Modern Management, Education and Social Sciences (MMET 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 896
EP  - 907
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_100
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_100
ID  - Zhao2025
ER  -