Adults who suffer poor sleep have a higher risk of dying from suicide than well-rested adults, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have found.

Findings from a new study, published in the Aug. 13 edition of the JAMA Psychiatry, showed older individuals who experienced disturbances during their sleep hours had a 1.4 times greater chance of suicide death, compared with those who reported better sleep habits over a 10-year period.

"This is important because sleep disturbances are highly treatable, yet arguably less stigmatizing than many other suicide risk factors," lead study author Rebecca Bernert, an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory at Stanford, said in a news release.

Older adults, she explained, show disproportionately higher rates of suicide risk compared to other age groups, making suicide prevention in older-aged populations a serious public health challenge.

Using data from a previous epidemiological study of 14,456 adults aged 65 and older, Bernert and her colleagues compared the sleep quality of 20 participants in the former survey who had died of suicide with the sleep patterns of 400 similar individuals logged over a 10-year period.

The analysis confirmed the linkage between depression and suicide risk, while also deeming poor sleep as an added risk factor.

"Our findings suggest that poor sleep quality may serve as a stand-alone risk factor for late-life suicide," Bernert said.

In fact, the study found that poor sleep predicted risk better than symptoms of depression, when comparing the two risk factors.

Then again,the combination of poor sleep and having a depressed mood was the strongest predictor of suicide risk.

"Suicide is the outcome of multiple, often interacting biological, psychological and social risk factors," Bernert said. "Disturbed sleep stands apart as a risk factor and warning sign in that it may be undone, which highlights its importance as a screening tool and potential treatment target in suicide prevention."

Most of the study's suicide decedents were white men, a group within the general population that typically demonstrates a heightened risk for suicide, so additional research is needed to see if the correlation between disturbed sleep and suicide risk also extends to women, minorities and younger adults or teenagers, said Bernert, who has since started up two more studies aimed at testing the effectiveness of insomnia treatments in preventing depression and suicide.