Daily Insufficient Sleep and Active Duty Status

Objective: We assessed the relationship between active duty status and daily insufficient sleep in a telephone survey. Methods: U.S. military service status (recent defined as past 12 months and past defined as 12 months ago) and daily insufficient sleep in the past 30 days were assessed among 566,861 adults aged 18 to 64 years and 271,202 adults aged 65 years in the 2009 to 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys. Results: Among ages 18 to 64 years, 1.1% reported recent active duty and 7.1% had past service; among ages 65 years, 0.6% reported recent and 24.6% had past service. Among ages 18 to 64 years, prevalence of daily insufficient sleep was 13.7% among those reporting recent duty, 12.6% for those with past service, and 11.2% for those with no service. Insufficient sleep did not vary significantly with active duty status among ages 65 years. After adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and frequent mental distress in multivariate logistic regression models, respondents aged 18 to 64 years with recent active duty were 34% more likely and those with past service were 23% more likely to report daily insufficient sleep than those with no service (0.05, both). Conclusions: Adults with either recent or past active duty have a greater risk for daily insufficient sleep.