• Wilfred R Pigeon, Kathi Heffner, Paul Duberstein, Kevin Fiscella, Jan Moynihan, and Benjamin P Chapman.
• Department of Psychiatry, Sleep & Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2011 Mar 1; 24 (2): 161168161-8.

PurposeBlacks experience a number of health disparities. Sleep disturbances contribute to poor health. This preliminary study explores whether a disparity in sleep disturbances exists among blacks compared with whites and others.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample (n = 92) of urban primary care patients (52% black, 46% white, and 2% other) from a university-based family medicine practice. Mean (SD) age was 51.9 years (8.9 years). Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Revised, and a checklist of chronic health conditions.ResultsThe rate of clinically meaningful sleep disturbance was 71%. In bivariate logistic regressions, black race was associated with sleep disturbance (odds ratio [OR], 3.00; 95% CI, 1.17-7.69). Controlling for income attenuated that association by about 11% (race OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.04-7.06). Education explained about 35% (race OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 0.89-6.42). Adjustment for depression, chronic illness, and education simultaneously resulted in an estimate for race of OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 0.85-7.01.ConclusionBeing black is associated with a sleep disturbance that is accounted for only partially by depression, socioeconomic status, and disease burden. Black primary care patients may benefit from additional screening and monitoring of sleep difficulties.

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