Wife-Husband Differences in the Associations Between Sleep Durations and Global Cognition Among Middle-Aged and Older Married Couples in China: A Longitudinal Dyadic Analysis.

Authors

Jie Zhong, Ying Dai, Xiang Qi, Wei Liang

Published in

The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. Sep 17, 2026. Epub Sep 17, 2026.

Abstract

Sleep duration has well-established U-shaped associations with cognitive health, but research has largely ignored spousal interdependence. This study examined actor and partner effects of sleep duration on global cognition in middle-aged and older Chinese couples, testing whether associations differed by sex.
Data were drawn from CHARLS waves 1-4 (2011-2018). The analytical sample comprised 4,260 couples (8,520 individuals) aged ≥45 years living a married, two-person, mixed-sex household. Global cognition was assessed with a composite battery adapted from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination; nocturnal sleep and napping durations were self-reported. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models with quadratic terms examined actor effects (own sleep predicting own cognition) and partner effects (own sleep predicting spouse's cognition), with false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted q-values and sex-equality tests.
Significant inverted U-shaped actor effects were found for wives (β=-0.010, 95% CI: -0.014, -0.005, p < 0.001) and husbands (β=-0.011, 95% CI: -0.016, -0.006, p < 0.001); both survived FDR correction (q = 0.002, q < 0.001). Husbands' sleep was nominally associated with wives' cognition similarly (β=-0.005, p = 0.025), while wives' sleep was not associated with husbands' cognition (p = 0.618). The husband-to-wife association did not survive FDR correction (q = 0.239), and sex-equality tests were non-significant (χ²(9)=9.35, p = 0.406). Napping showed limited, largely non-significant associations with cognition.
Own nocturnal sleep duration shows a robust, symmetric inverted U-shaped association with cognitive function in both spouses. The possible husband-to-wife partner effect did not survive correction for multiple testing and warrants adequately powered investigation before informing couple-based clinical recommendations.

PMID:
42755049
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Sep 2026.

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