0359 Later Age of Menarche Is Associated with Better Actigraphic Sleep Quality and Fewer Self-Reported Insomnia Symptoms in Adolescent Girls Free

Abstract

Introduction

Early age of pubertal onset is associated with increased sleep disturbances in girls; however, little is known about whether age of menarche is associated with sleep health in adolescent girls, particularly using objective sleep measures such as actigraphy. We examined whether age of menarche is associated with both actigraphic and self-reported sleep health among adolescent girls in a large, diverse population. Given the literature showing earlier age of menarche in Black and Hispanic girls, we also examined whether race/ethnicity moderated this relationship.

Methods

Data from 1,558 female participants who had experienced menarche (range: 8-16y) and had self-reported sleep outcomes were obtained from the age 15 wave of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Self-reported sleep outcomes included trouble falling and trouble staying asleep, bedtimes, wake times, and sleep duration on school days and weekends. Actigraphic sleep measures, including sleep onset, sleep duration, sleep maintenance efficiency, and wake after sleep onset (WASO), were collected in a subsample of 403 female adolescents (range: 8-14.7y) who participated in the sleep sub-study. Multiple linear regression analyses examined the association between age of menarche in years and dimensions of sleep health adjusting for age at survey completion, race/ethnicity, family structure, household income, and parental education.

Results

Among the full sample, 1 year later age of menarche was associated with.18 fewer nights/week having trouble falling asleep (p<.001) and.14 fewer nights/week staying asleep (p<.001). Among the actigraphy sub-sample, 1 year later age of menarche was associated with.20 fewer nights/week having trouble staying asleep (p=.016),.22% higher nightly sleep maintenance efficiency (p=.045), and 1.5 fewer minutes WASO/night (p=.010). Race/ethnicity moderated some results such that the association between later age of menarche and fewer insomnia symptoms was stronger in White adolescent girls compared to Hispanic adolescent girls and not significant among Black adolescent girls.

Conclusion

Later age of menarche is associated with better actigraphic sleep quality and fewer self-reported insomnia symptoms at age 15, particularly among White girls. Future research should examine whether age of menarche predicts sleep health later in life.

Support (if any)

R25-HL147668, R01HD073352, R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421.