LAUSR

Conserved early visual pathways set visual perception and sleep consolidation and timing, but the associations between functional vision and sleep are not well established. Here, we determine these associations in a nationally-recruited adult cohort and contrast them with health outcome covariates. Data were drawn from 5973 adults aged 20 to 85 years (M=41.32, SD=21.82), obtained from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2006 and 2007-2008 cohorts. Adults reported demographics, sleep duration, vision, body size (body mass index; BMI), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and social support information. Spearman’s rank correlations were performed to determine the association between self-reported measures of functional vision and self-reported typical nightly sleep duration. To determine the influence of covariates thought to moderate health outcomes on this association, ordinal logistic regression was performed with sleep as the predictor and ‘general eyesight condition’ or ‘vision limiting activities’ as the dependent variables; and age, BMI, depression, and emotional support as covariates. Typical nightly sleep duration correlated very weakly with general eyesight condition (r=-.07, p<.001), vision limiting activities (r=-.03, p=.001), eyesight worry (r=-.09, p<.001), difficulty reading newsprint (r=-.06, p<.001), and difficulty discriminating objects (r=-.03, p=.007). For general eyesight condition, (exponentiated) odds ratios were minorly improved with increasing typical nightly sleep duration (B=.93, p<.001), but these effects were eclipsed by psychosocial factors such as PHQ-9 depression score (B=1.11, p<.001) and emotional support availability (B=.71, p<.001), while ageing had a minor effect (B=1.02, p<.001) and BMI did not associate (p=.29). For vision limiting activities; odds ratios were not influenced by typical nightly sleep duration (p=.086), psychosocial factors such as PHQ-9 depression score (B=1.13, p<.001) and emotional support availability (B=0.63, p<.001) meaningfully enhanced odds ratios, while ageing (B=1.03, p<.001) and BMI had minor effects (B=1.01, p=.009). Despite shared sensory pathways, the neuroprotective effects of sleep on functional vision appear limited. Unlike for many disorders, BMI and ageing did not meaningfully associate with functional vision deficits. Psychosocial support mechanisms had the strongest beneficial association with functional vision, and such mechanisms should be given more consideration during optometric care. BBRF NARSAD (#28056). KTEF Career Starter (#NNO). NAM Catalyst (#2000012740).