1. Differences in Fatigue and Depressive Symptoms Between Long and Average Sleeping Older Adults Introduction Methods Results Discussion Support Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder that can severely impact quality of life. The DSM-V lists 9 factors to examine when diagnosing for depression, one of which is loss of energy/fatigue- related symptoms. Previous research has indicated that long sleep is associated with more depressive/fatigue related symptoms, however, most of the research has been epidemiological in nature (Van der Berg et al., 2009). This study examined whether or not symptoms of depression and fatigue determined differed between long and average sleeping older adults, using a more objective sleep measure, actigraphy. Participants: Thirty-Two Older Adults: (27 women; Mean: 65.2y, Range: 60 to 77y) Average vs. Long Sleepers: Average Sleepers: TIB= 6-7.25 hours; Long Sleepers: TIB= 8-9.25 hours. Exclusions: Inflammatory disorders, substance abuse, shift work, excessive napping, excessive TIB, sleep apnea, bipolar disorder, current cancer, heart attacks, sleeping pills, current smoking, BMI≥35. Treatments: Participants underwent 2 weeks of baseline, followed by 12 weeks of treatment Sleep Restriction (SR): 1-hour TIB reduction Fixed Schedule: Same TIB, fixed bed/wake time Measures: The Geriatric Depression Inventory (GDI), Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory Short Form (MFSI-SF), SF-36 Vitality Scale and SF-36 Mental Health Scale were used to measure the primary outcome variables of depressive/fatigue related symptoms between average/long sleepers as measured by Daily Sleep Diaries (DSD) and Actigraphy. Only baseline results were used from an ongoing multisite study with data drawn from all four sites. Cody Havens, BS 1, Lauren Dean, BS 1, Michael Goldstein, BS 1, Michael Irwin, MD 2 Girardin Jean-Louis, PhD 3, Shawn D Youngstedt, PhD 4, Richard Bootzin, PhD 1 1 Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ, 2 Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 3 SUNY Downtown Medical Center, New York University, New York City, NY, 4 Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC General Discussion In this pilot study, there was support for the hypothesis that in older adults, sleeping for a longer amount of time is associated with more depressive and fatigue related symptoms than sleeping for an average period of time. These results are novel in that they are not epidemiological in nature and used a more objective measure, actigraphy, to determine TIB for these older adults. Future Directions This preliminary data was calculated with a small sample size. For both the GDI and MSFI-SF, their effect sizes suggest that with more subjects, between-group comparisons on these measures may become statistically significant. Causality cannot be inferred from this analysis. Our ongoing study will explore the effects of chronic moderate SR on long and average sleeping older adults to better establish causality in this relationship. Future research should also compare several age groups to see if these trends are replicable, while adjusting the criterion for average and long TIB to meet the standard for that age group. This research was supported by HL095799 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). References Van den Berg, J. F., Luijendijk, H. J., Tulen, J. H. M., Hofman, A., Neven, A. K., & Tiemeier, H. (2009). Sleep in depression and anxiety disorders: a population-based study of elderly persons. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 70(8), 1105–13. Figure 1. On both subscales, higher scores indicate a lower number of depressive/fatigue related symptoms. The Mental Health Subscale showed that long sleepers (N=15/32) have more symptoms than average sleepers (p<0.01). The Vitality subscale showed that long sleepers (N=15/32) have more symptoms than longer sleepers (p<0.05). Geriatric Depression Inventory (GDI): On this inventory, higher scores indicate more depressive symptoms. A range from 0-9 is considered normal for this inventory. Long sleepers (N=12/26) had a higher score on this inventory (6.0 ± 6.3) than did average sleepers (2.9 ± 3.9). This finding was not significant (p=.179), but did have a moderate effect size (Cohen’s d=0.59). Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory Short Form (MFSI-SF): On the MFSI-SF, higher scores indicate a higher degree of fatigue. Long sleepers (N=14/28) on this inventory scored higher (16.1 ± 13.3) than did average sleepers (10.6 ± 9.5). This difference was not significant (p=.390), but was associated with a moderate effect size (Cohen’s d=0.48).