TABLE 1.
Demographics and socioeconomic variables during the 10-year observation period for employed women aged 42 to 52 years at enrollment in the US SWAN Databasea
| Overall population (11,557 visits) | Subgroup with new-onset sleep disturbanceb (1,516 visits) | Subgroup with no sleep disturbance (6,113 visits) | |
| Age at baseline, mean (SD), yrs | 45.81 (2.62) | 45.85 (2.58) | 45.72 (2.60) |
| Race | |||
| White, non-Hispanic | 6,337 (55) | 876 (58) | 3,067 (50) |
| Black | 2,677 (23) | 354 (23) | 1,429 (23) |
| Chinese/Chinese-American | 1,165 (10) | 132 (8.7) | 742 (12) |
| Japanese/Japanese-American | 1,191 (10) | 136 (9.0) | 742 (12) |
| Hispanic | 187 (1.6) | 18 (1.2) | 133 (2.2) |
| Smoker | 1,406 (12) | 181 (12) | 747 (12) |
| Comorbidity countc | |||
| 0 | 5,413 (47) | 655 (43) | 3,299 (54) |
| 1 | 3,441 (30) | 468 (31) | 1,713 (28) |
| 2 | 1,695 (15) | 243 (16) | 735 (12) |
| ≥3 | 1,008 (8.7) | 150 (9.9) | 366 (6.0) |
| Marital status | |||
| Currently married | 7,574 (66) | 978 (65) | 4,083 (67) |
| Formerly married | 2,413 (21) | 335 (22) | 1,192 (19) |
| Single/Never married | 1,570 (14) | 203 (13) | 838 (14) |
| Number of children in household | |||
| 0 | 8,540 (74) | 1,155 (76) | 4,347 (71) |
| 1 | 1,709 (15) | 211 (14) | 970 (16) |
| 2 | 947 (8.2) | 113 (7.5) | 580 (9.5) |
| 3 | 286 (2.5) | 24 (1.6) | 182 (3.0) |
| ≥4 | 75 (0.6) | 13 (0.9) | 34 (0.6) |
| Household annual income | |||
| <$20,000 | 457 (4.0) | 56 (3.7) | 189 (3.1) |
| $20,000 to <$50,000 | 3,100 (27) | 426 (28) | 1,597 (26) |
| $50,000 to <$100,000 | 4,246 (37) | 522 (34) | 2,340 (38) |
| ≥$100,000 | 3,427 (30) | 468 (31) | 1,801 (29) |
| Missing | 327 (2.8) | 44 (2.9) | 186 (3.0) |
| CES-D, mean (SD) score across all visits | 7.85 (7.88) | 9.65 (8.55) | 6.09 (6.46) |
| Poor work conditionsd | 4,674 (40) | 661 (44) | 2,243 (37) |
| Higher workloade | 4,228 (37) | 561 (37) | 2,102 (34) |
| Overnight hospitalization since last visit | 671 (5.8) | 116 (7.7) | 254 (4.2) |
| Other socioeconomic factors | |||
| Financial problems | 2,620 (23) | 381 (25) | 1,162 (19) |
| Relationship problems | 4,234 (37) | 594 (39) | 2,001 (33) |
| Legal problems | 1,234 (11) | 197 (13) | 538 (8.8) |
| Family illness | 2,900 (25) | 437 (29) | 1,330 (22) |
CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; SD, standard deviation; SWAN, Study of Women's Health Across the Nation; US, United States.
Except where specified, outcomes are reported as number (%) of visits.
For each visit (t), we classified a participant as having sleep difficulties if she reported trouble falling asleep, waking early, or sleep interruptions at least three times in the past 2 weeks. Sleep disturbances were considered new-onset if they were present at the preceding visit (t-1) but not at the visit prior to that (t-2).
The count of comorbidities included 10 conditions: diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, migraines, stroke, arthritis, heart attack, angina, cancer, and obesity (body mass index [BMI] >30 kg/m2).
A positive response for poor work conditions was recorded if the woman reported at the time of the visit that she was having trouble with her boss or worsening work conditions.
A positive response for higher workload was recorded if the woman indicated at the time of the visit that she had taken on a greatly increased workload at her job.