Sleep Quality and Dietary Patterns in an Occupational Cohort of Police Officers

We examined the association between self-reported sleep quality, sleep duration, and dietary patterns among police officers in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Stress (BCOPS) study. 422 police officers aged 21-74 (2004-2009). We used a cross-sectional study design and obtained sleep quality and duration from responses to the 19-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Using 46 energy-adjusted food groups derived from a 125-item food frequency questionnaire, we identified dietary patterns using exploratory factor analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the associations of sleep quality and duration with the derived dietary patterns. We identified major dietary patterns: fruits and vegetables (FV), dairy products, starches and fried foods, and meat and eggs. Individuals with poor sleep quality had a lower average FV score than those with optimal sleep (beta [SE] = -0.32 [0.13]; p = .01). Significant interactions were observed between sex and the FV and dairy products dietary patterns, where women with poor sleep quality had a lower mean FV score compared to women with optimal sleep quality (beta [SE] = -0.81 [0.29]; p = .01). Women with < 6 hours sleep duration had a lower mean dairy score compared to women with >= 7 hours sleep duration (beta [SE] = -0.69 [0.29]; p = .02). We did not observe these associations among men. Among women, good sleep quality and long sleep duration were associated with a dietary pattern high in consumption of both fruits and vegetables and dairy products.