Sleep Quality and Inflammation in Married Heterosexual Couples: an Actor-Partner Analysis

Subjective sleep quality is a predictor of important health outcomes, but little work has examined the social context of sleep that might inform theoretical models and intervention approaches. The present study tested actor-partner models of sleep quality and its links to inflammatory markers.

Participants were 84 middle-age to older adult heterosexual married couples who completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and had blood drawn for determination of CRP and IL-6 levels.

Main results indicated that only actor levels of poor global sleep quality predicted higher CRP levels. No actor × partner or gender × actor/partner interactions were significant. These results were also not moderated by relationship quality. Secondary analyses, focused on the different components of sleep quality, revealed marginally significant evidence for partner’s poor sleep (i.e., sleep disturbances, sleep latency) on one’s own inflammatory outcomes.

These results suggest the promise of modeling sleep quality as a dyadic process that can impact inflammation and potentially related health outcomes.