New research suggests that sleep disturbances and problems may be influenced by race and ethnicity.

Researchers found that sleep disturbances and undiagnosed sleep apnea seemed to occur more frequently in racial/ethnic minorities.

They found that black people were most likely to have short sleep duration of less than six hours, and they were more likely than whites to have sleep apnea syndrome, poor sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness. Latinos and Chinese people were more likely than whites to have sleep-disordered breathing and short sleep duration, but Chinese were least likely to report having insomnia.

"Our findings underscore the very high prevalence of undiagnosed sleep disturbances in middle-aged and older adults, and identify racial/ethnic disparities that include differences in short sleep duration, sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness," Dr. Xiaoli Chen, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 2,000 racially and ethnically diverse men and women between the ages of 54 and 93 years old. They also gathered data from polysomnography, actigraphy and validated questionnaires that were obtained between 2010 and 2013.

Their findings also suggests that sleep disturbances may contribute to health disparities among adults in the United States.

"As sleep apnea has been implicated as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and mortality, our findings highlight the need to consider undiagnosed sleep apnea in middle-aged and older adults, with potential value in developing strategies to screen and improve recognition in groups such as in Chinese and Hispanic populations," Dr. Susan Redline, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

The findings are detailed in the journal Sleep.