0238 Perceived Childhood Neighborhood Safety and Sleep Health during Adulthood

Abstract Introduction Neighborhood safety has been cross-sectionally associated with sleep health at different life stages. However, few studies have investigated childhood neighborhood safety and adulthood sleep despite the possibility that childhood neighborhood safety may serve as a modifiable target for primordial prevention of poor sleep health. Methods Using data from 1,611 Black/African-American women enrolled in the Study of Environment, Lifestyle and Fibroids, we investigated associations between perceived childhood neighborhood safety and adulthood sleep. Participants reported safety of their childhood neighborhoods as unsafe vs. safe at ages 5,10, and 15 years. Participants also self-reported current (ages 23-35 years) sleep duration and quality (i.e., frequently wake feeling unrested [≥4 days/week] and frequent insomnia symptoms [≥15 days/month of difficulty falling or staying asleep]). Adjusting for childhood socioeconomic characteristics, log binomial models estimated prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). For perceived safety at ages 10 and 15 years, we applied inverse probability weights to models to adjust for perceived neighborhood safety at prior ages. Results Mean age ± standard deviation was 29 ± 3.5 years. Prevalence of residence in a childhood neighborhood perceived as unsafe increased with age (Age 5- 20%, Age 10- 22%, Age 15- 31%), and 17% reported an unsafe neighborhood at every age. Both short sleep duration (<7 hours) and frequently waking feeling unrested during adulthood were reported by approximately 60% of women, and 10% reported frequent insomnia symptoms. Participants in perceived unsafe vs. safe neighborhoods at every age were more likely to frequently wake feeling unrested as adults (PR=1.12 [95% CI: 1.00-1.25]). Perceived unsafe neighborhood at ages 5 and 15 years was associated with frequent insomnia symptoms and frequently waking feeling unrested, respectively. Perceived unsafe neighborhood at age 10 years was marginally associated with a higher prevalence of both frequently waking feeling unrested (PR=1.11 [0.98-1.27]) and frequent insomnia symptoms (PR=1.58 [0.99-2.52]) during adulthood. Conclusion Perceived unsafe neighborhood during childhood was associated with poorer sleep during adulthood among a cohort of young Black women. Support (If Any) Division of Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Z1AES103325[CLJ] and 1ZIAES049013[DB]), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds designated for NIH research