SynthesisSleep2021
Meta-analysis of age and actigraphy-assessed sleep characteristics across the lifespan.
Synthesis in Sleep, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Determinants of natural adult sleep: An umbrella review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Subjective and objective sleep disturbances following trauma-focused treatment.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Trial
- Outcomes From the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TranS-C) for Midlife and Older Adults With Serious Mental Illness and Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction.Behavior therapy · 2022Trial
- Differences in insomnia-related factors between working-age and older adults: A comparison of nocturnal and daytime symptoms.Sleep medicine: X · 2026Article
- Sleeping through the ages: Developmental trajectories of actigraphy-derived sleep-wake patterns across adolescence and emerging adulthood.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- 24h movement behaviours in university students compared to working age and older adults: wearable-based evidence and cardiometabolic health implications.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Actigraphy-derived multidimensional sleep health among breast cancer survivors and controls: Pink SWAN.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- Sleep Health Dimensions From Wearables and Transdiagnostic Mental Health in Young Adolescents.JAMA pediatrics · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Problematic Alcohol Use Among Older Chinese Adults: A Study Combining Logistic Regression and Psychological Network Analysis.Alpha psychiatry · 2026Article
- Quantifying observable movement reserve in multiple sclerosis via upper diurnal activity quantiles.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2026Article
- Sleep midpoint, social jetlag, and cancer risk in the Cancer Prevention Study-3.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Tracking Cognitive Health With Wearables in Telerehabilitation Female Participants: Could Nighttime Sleep Measures Be Used as Sex-Specific Digital Endpoints?JMIR neurotechnology · 2026Article
- Toward a Classification of Chronotype Questionnaires.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Article
- The choroid plexus water density.Magnetic resonance in medicine · 2026Article
- Factors Linking Interoception and Sleep Across the Adult Lifespan.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Multi-dimensional sleep health and dementia risk: a prospective study in the UK Biobank.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Objective sleep quality in diverse older adults: a cross-sectional study on the importance of race and ethnicity and sex.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Sleep Timing Across the Lifespan of Australian Adults.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
- Health Effects of Plant-Based Diets in University Life: A Comprehensive Study on the Constipation, Sleep and Obesity.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesSleep quantity and continuity vary across the lifespan. Actigraphy is a reliable and widely used behavioral measure of sleep in research and personal health monitoring. This meta-analysis provides a novel examination of whether age (in years) is associated with actigraphy-assessed sleep across the lifespan.
methodsA systematic search of PubMed, Embase.com, Cochrane CENTRAL, and PsycINFO using "actigraphy" and "sleep" terms provided 7079 titles/abstracts; studies of individuals with known psychiatric or medical comorbidities were excluded. Ninety-one articles (N = 23 365) provided data for six meta-analyses examining sleep duration (k = 89), sleep efficiency (k = 58), bedtime (k = 19) and waketime (k = 9) for individuals ages 6-21, and bedtime (k = 7) and waketime (k = 7) for individuals ages 22 and older.
resultsAt older ages, sleep duration was shorter (r = -0.12) and sleep efficiency was lower (r = -0.05). Older age was associated with later bedtime (r = 0.37) and wake-up time (r = 0.24) from ages 6-21, whereas older age was associated with earlier bedtime (r = -0.66) and wake-up time (r = -0.59) for ages 22 and above. The strength of these associations was modified by study continent, but not by any other moderator.
conclusionsAge was negatively associated with actigraphy-assessed sleep duration and efficiency, but the effects were small in magnitude. On the other hand, large associations were observed between age and sleep timing, despite a smaller literature and the absence of analyzable data for ages 30-60. Changes in sleep timing, rather than changes in sleep duration or continuity, may better characterize the effects of age on human sleep.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.