The association of race/ethnicity with objectively measured sleep characteristics in older men.

This study examined the association between race/ethnicity and objectively measured sleep characteristics in a large sample of older men. Black men had significantly shorter total sleep time (6.1 hr vs. 6.4 hr), longer sleep latency (28.7 min vs. 21.9 min), lower sleep efficiency (80.6% vs. 83.4%), and less slow-wave sleep (4.9% vs. 8.8%) than White men, even after controlling for social status, comorbidities, body mass index, and sleep-disordered breathing. Hispanic men slept longer (6.7 hr) at night than Black (6.1 hr) and Asian American men (6.1 hr). This study supports significant variations in sleep characteristics in older men by race/ethnicity.