BackgroundHearing loss has occurred as a critical concern for aging and health. However, it remains unknown whether nocturnal sleep and midday napping duration are associated with hearing loss in middle-aged and older adults.MethodsThe study comprised 9,573 adults from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, who have completed the survey for sleep characteristics and subjective functional hearing. We collected self-reported nocturnal sleep duration (30 min). The sleep information was classified into different sleep patterns. The primary outcome was self-reported hearing loss events. Multivariate Cox regression models and restricted cubic splines were used to investigate the longitudinal association of sleep characteristics with hearing loss. We applied Cox generalized additive models and bivariate exposure-response surface diagrams to visualize the effects of different sleep patterns on hearing loss.ResultsWe confirmed 1,073 cases of hearing loss (55.1% female) during the follow-up. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and health condition, nocturnal sleep with 9 h/night had higher risks of hearing loss.ConclusionInadequate nocturnal sleep was associated with an elevated risk of poor subjective hearing in middle-aged and older adults, while moderate napping decreased the risk of hearing loss. Keeping sleep stable within recommendation duration may be a useful strategy for preventing poor hearing loss.
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