The present study, a questionnaire survey, was undertaken to assess the relationship between nightmares and sleep and between nightmares and sensory organ dysfunctions in a large group of elderly persons. The survey comprised 6,103 elderly subjects (39.5% men). The ages (mean±standard deviation) of the male and female participants were 73.0±6.0 and 72.6±6.7 years, respectively. Poor sleep was reported by 14.4% of the men and 28.1% of the women (p<0.0001). Frequent nightmares were reported by 9.0 % of the men and 11.9 % of the women (p<0.05). Compared with men and women without nightmares, the sleep time to first awakening was shorter, time taken to get to sleep after nocturnal awakening was longer, longest uninterrupted sleep period was shorter and total nocturnal time in bed was longer in nightmare sufferers of both sexes. In a multiple logistic regression analysis with age, visual status, hearing and tinnitus as the independent variables and nightmares as the dependent variable, nightmares were 1.5 (1.0-2.3) times more frequent in men with than without hearing impairment and 2.2 (1.4-3.4) times more frequent in men with than without tinnitus but were unaffected by visual status and age. In women nightmares were 1.9 (1.3-2.5) times more frequent in association with visual impairment but unaffected by hearing impairment, tinnitus and age. It is concluded that the occurrence of nightmares in the elderly is associated with different kinds of sleep disturbances. Visual impairment, hearing impairment and tinnitus were all associated with increased nightmares.