Association of subjective and objective measures of sleep with gut microbiota composition and diversity in older men: The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence suggests bi-directional links between gut microbiota and sleep quality as shared contributors to health. Little is known about the relationship between microbiota and sleep among older persons.METHODS: We used 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize stool microbiota among men (n=606, mean [SD] age = 83.9 [3.8]) enrolled in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study from 2014-16. Sleep was assessed concurrently by questionnaire (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index [PSQI]), and activity monitor to examine timing (acrophase) and regularity of patterns (F-statistic). Alpha diversity was measured using Faith's phylogenetic diversity (PD). Beta diversity was calculated with robust Aitchison distances (RPCA) and phylogenetic-RPCA (PRPCA). Their association with sleep variables was tested with a partial distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA). Predictive-ratio biomarkers associated with sleep measurements were identified with CoDACoRe.RESULTS: In unadjusted analyses, men with poor sleep (PSQI >5) tended to have lower alpha-diversity compared to men with normal sleep (Faith's PD, beta= -0.15; 95% CI:-0.30-0.01, p=0.06). Sleep regularity was significantly associated with RPCA and PRPCA, even after adjusting for site, batch, age, ethnicity, body mass index, diabetes, antidepressant and sleep medication use, and health behaviors (RPCA/PRPCA dbRDA p=.033/0.002). In taxonomic analysis, a ratio of 7:6 bacteria for better regularity (p = 0.0004) and 4:7 for worse self-reported sleep (p = 0.005) were differentially abundant: some butyrate-producing bacteria were associated with better sleep characteristics.CONCLUSIONS: Subjective and objective indicators of sleep quality suggest that older men with better sleep patterns are more likely to harbor butyrate-producing bacteria associated with better health.

View details for DOI 10.1093/gerona/glad011

View details for PubMedID 36655399