Gender can modify the association between sleep duration, quality, and adiposity markers in elderly populations: Findings from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA)

Gender can modify the association between sleep duration, quality, and adiposity markers in elderly populations: Findings from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Gender can modify the association between sleep duration, quality, and adiposity markers in elderly populations: Findings from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA) Ali Gholami, Mitra Hariri, Mahdie Dehnavi, Hossein Sanaie, Nilofar Marofi, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8484272/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 26 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: The global elderly population is rapidly expanding, and Iran is no exception to this demographic trend.Sleep disorders -as a common problem in the elderly -are associated with changes in body composition. However, limited studies have comprehensively examined the relationship between sleep parameters and detailed anthropometric indices in elderly populations. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the associations of sleep duration and quality with anthropometric indices in an elderly Iranian population. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA), including 3,452 participants aged ≥60 years. Sleep duration and quality were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Anthropometric measurements included body fat mass (BFM), fat-free mass (FFM), visceral fat area (VFA), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Multiple linear regression models were employed to examine associations, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related covariates. Results: Poor sleep quality was significantly associated with higher BFM (β=1.17, p=0.040), VFA (β=7.70, p=0.012), and WHR (β=0.0097, p=0.021) in women, but not in men. Short sleep duration (<7 hours) was unexpectedly associated with lower BFM (β=-1.29, p=0.023) and VFA (β=-6.54, p=0.034) in women. Conclusions: Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent among Iranian elderly. Poor sleep quality was specifically associated with adverse adiposity markers in women, while associations in men were absent. These findings underscore the necessity for gender-specific health strategies for healthy aging. Sleep Duration Sleep Quality Anthropometric Indices Elderly Population Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 27 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 15 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 13 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 12 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 11 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 08 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 27 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 18 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 17 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 17 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8484272","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":619138235,"identity":"363e013b-91d4-4cad-80b2-5c5346bc55ce","order_by":0,"name":"Ali Gholami","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ali","middleName":"","lastName":"Gholami","suffix":""},{"id":619138255,"identity":"93bff09a-505a-443c-b76d-bc5a3224ae6b","order_by":1,"name":"Mitra Hariri","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Neyshabur University of Medical 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However, limited studies have comprehensively examined the relationship between sleep parameters and detailed anthropometric indices in elderly populations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAim:\u003c/strong\u003eThis study aimed to investigate the associations of sleep duration and quality with anthropometric indices in an elderly Iranian population.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003eThis cross-sectional study utilized data from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA), including 3,452 participants aged ≥60 years. Sleep duration and quality were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Anthropometric measurements included body fat mass (BFM), fat-free mass (FFM), visceral fat area (VFA), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Multiple linear regression models were employed to examine associations, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related covariates.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e Poor sleep quality was significantly associated with higher BFM (β=1.17, p=0.040), VFA (β=7.70, p=0.012), and WHR (β=0.0097, p=0.021) in women, but not in men. Short sleep duration (\u0026lt;7 hours) was unexpectedly associated with lower BFM (β=-1.29, p=0.023) and VFA (β=-6.54, p=0.034) in women.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions:\u003c/strong\u003eSleep disturbances are highly prevalent among Iranian elderly. Poor sleep quality was specifically associated with adverse adiposity markers in women, while associations in men were absent. These findings underscore the necessity for gender-specific health strategies for healthy aging.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Gender can modify the association between sleep duration, quality, and adiposity markers in elderly populations: Findings from the Neyshabur Longitudinal Study on Ageing (NeLSA)","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-08 02:48:30","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8484272/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-04-27T08:49:21+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-22T07:23:06+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-17T05:26:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-16T01:56:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-13T11:32:51+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-12T13:21:33+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"28684675211739403277608217008316012855","date":"2026-04-12T04:40:54+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"196867891104457505555377130335434964167","date":"2026-04-11T15:33:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-11T12:33:01+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"168653162697053342612068361676822556039","date":"2026-04-11T12:23:18+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-11T02:13:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-10T16:38:30+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"85867387724164035932056974102343467734","date":"2026-04-10T15:56:46+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-10T00:00:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"267478540611531300388789819232194815977","date":"2026-04-09T13:28:18+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"180165574651734818273901048956492390479","date":"2026-04-09T09:09:55+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"72491621252570551903629665645531477557","date":"2026-04-09T08:37:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"274888917128232087057636836251285582748","date":"2026-04-09T08:37:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-08T12:29:26+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"114660660050948112896934647889987827141","date":"2026-04-07T17:37:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"131090283402961268222940515104113150132","date":"2026-04-03T00:53:18+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-02T18:59:21+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-27T05:24:57+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-02-18T18:10:22+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-02-17T20:18:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Geriatrics","date":"2026-02-17T20:15:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-geriatrics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"bgtc","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Geriatrics](http://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/bgtc/default.aspx","title":"BMC Geriatrics","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"1ef31db6-be8f-42df-9d5c-b327c3ceb3bc","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 8th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-11T14:23:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-08 02:48:30","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8484272","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8484272","identity":"rs-8484272","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}