[Relations between sleep patterns, perceived health and socioeconomic variables in a sample of community resident elders: PENSA Study].

Changes in sleep pattern constitute a common complaint among elders. Age-related changes can be observed in different levels of the architecture and quality of sleep. The objective of the present study was to observe the relation between age-related sleep changes, insomnia symptoms, apnea symptoms, parasomnia symptoms with socio-economic variables and perceived health status. Sleep pattern was evaluated using the Mini-Sleep Questionnaire. Results indicated that women and individuals with lower education reported higher frequency of insomnia symptoms, the elder-elder group. On the other hand, individuals with higher perceived health status presented lower frequency of apnea symptoms, and higher perceived health status was associated to better sleep pattern overall. It can be concluded that sleep pattern is associated to socio-economic variables such as age, gender, education and perceived health.