Association of financial hardship with poor sleep health outcomes among men who have sex with men

Dustin T. Duncan, Su Hyun Park, Yazan A. Al-Ajlouni, Lauren Hale, Girardin Jean-Louis, William C. Goedel, Basile Chaix, Brian Elbel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Previous studies have identified an association between socioeconomic status and sleep health. While some research has studied this association among sexual minority groups, including men who have sex with men (MSM), they exclusively focused on US-based populations. The interplay between the two in shaping sleep health has not been previously examined on populations residing outside the US. This study considers both determinants, by investigating whether financial hardship is associated with sleep health among a sample of MSM in Paris, France. Broadcast advertisements were placed on a popular geosocial-networking smartphone application for MSM to direct users in Paris to a web-based survey measuring financial hardship and five dimensions of sleep health as well as socio-demographic characteristics. Modified Poisson models with robust error variance were computed to estimate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between financial hardship and the following self-reported outcomes: 1) poor sleep quality, 2) short sleep duration; and 3) sleep problems. In total, 580 respondents completed the survey. In this sample, both financial hardship and poor sleep health were common - 45.5% reported that it was extremely, very, or somewhat difficult for them to meet their monthly payments on bills (referred to as “high financial hardship”) and 30.1% rated their sleep as fairly bad or very bad (referred to as “poor sleep quality”). Multivariate models revealed that, compared to participants who reported low financial hardship, those who reported high financial hardship were more likely to report poor sleep quality (aRR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.77), to report problems falling asleep (aRR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.49), and to report problems staying awake in the daytime (aRR: 3.12, 95% CI: 1.83, 5.31). Future research should investigate whether this relationship is causal and determine whether interventions to reduce financial hardships could promote sleep health among MSM.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)594-599
Number of pages6
JournalSSM - Population Health
Volume3
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Financial hardship
  • Gay men's health
  • Men who have sex with men (MSM)
  • Paris France
  • Poor sleep health
  • Social epidemiology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Health Policy
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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