The Moderating Effect of Sleep Duration on the Association Between Chronic Disease and Health‐Related Quality of Life in Middle‐Aged Women

ABSTRACT

This cross‐sectional secondary data analysis aimed to examine the association between the number of chronic diseases and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) in middle‐aged women and to determine whether sleep duration moderated this association. Data from 3062 women aged 46–70 years were obtained from the 2019 and 2021 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Complex‐samples t ‐tests, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. A significant moderating effect of sleep duration was observed for the > 9 h/day group compared with the > 6–7 h/day reference group ( p  = 0.016), with a stronger negative association between the number of chronic diseases and HRQOL in this group. Participants in the > 6–7 h/day and > 7–8 h/day groups reported significantly higher HRQOL than those sleeping ≤ 5, > 8–9, and > 9 h/day ( p  < 0.001), and a greater number of chronic diseases was associated with lower HRQOL ( p  < 0.001). These findings suggest that sleep duration, particularly sleep duration of more than 9 h, may be considered when evaluating the association between the number of chronic diseases and HRQOL among middle‐aged women.