Short Sleep Is Associated With Low Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis in the Women's Health Initiative

ABSTRACT Short sleep duration, recognized as a public health epidemic, is associated with adverse health conditions, yet little is known about the association between sleep and bone health. We tested the associations of usual sleep behavior and bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis. In a sample of 11,084 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI; mean age 63.3 years, SD = 7.4), we performed a cross‐sectional study of the association of self‐reported usual hours of sleep and sleep quality (WHI Insomnia Rating Score) with whole body, total hip, femoral neck, and spine BMD using linear regression models. We also studied the association of sleep duration and quality with dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA)‐defined low bone mass (T‐score