Association of Irregular Menstruation and Sleep Duration With Depression Symptoms in Women of Childbearing Age

Introduction With the decline of the fertility rate, women of childbearing age are playing an increasingly important role in social development, and paying attention to their physical and mental health is of great significance. We aimed to explore the association of irregular menstruation and sleep duration with depression symptoms in women of childbearing age. Methods We collected data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2013 to 2018. Irregular menstruation and sleep duration were derived from questions, and depression symptoms were assessed by questionnaire data. Generalized additive model (GAM), threshold effect analysis, and binary logistic regression were used in this study. Results A total of 3141 participants aged 18-45 years were enrolled in the study, and 9.55% had depression symptoms. Both irregular menstruation (OR=1.595, (95% CI: 1.065-2.389)) and sleep duration (OR=0.872, (95% CI: 0.774-0.983)) were associated with depression symptoms after adjusting for all covariates. GAM and threshold effect analysis showed a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and depression symptoms, and the inflection point of sleep duration was nine hours. An interaction of irregular menstruation and sleep duration on depression symptoms was found (OR=0.736, (95% CI: 0.554-0.977), P=0.035). Conclusions Irregular menstruation and sleep duration were associated with depression symptoms, and there was an interaction of irregular menstruation and sleep duration on depression symptoms in women of childbearing age. These findings may help women of childbearing age to be aware of the negative impact of irregular menstruation and improper sleep duration on depression symptoms and might provide potential targets for intervention.