Cross-sectional and prospective associations of sleep duration and bedtimes with adiposity and obesity risk in 15 810 youth from 11 international cohorts.
Pediatric Obesity 2021
Collings PJ, Grøntved A, Jago R, Kriemler S, Northstone K, Puder JJ, Salmon J, Sardinha LB, Steene-Johannessen J, van Sluijs EMF, Sherar LB, Esliger DW, Ekelund U, International Childrens Accelerometry Database (ICAD) Collaborators
DOI : 10.1111/ijpo.12873
PubMed ID : 34851038
PMCID :
URL : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpo.12873
Abstract
To investigate associations of bedtimes and sleep durations with adiposity levels in children and adolescents.
Individual data were pooled for 12 247 children (5819 with follow-up adiposity at 2.3 ± 1.4 years post-baseline) and 3563 adolescents from 11 international studies. Associations between questionnaire-based sleep durations, bedtimes and four groups of combined bedtimes and sleep lengths (later-shorter [reference]/earlier-shorter/later-longer/earlier-longer) with measured adiposity (body mass index [BMI] and waist circumference z-scores) and weight status, were investigated.
In children, longer sleep durations were consistently associated with lower adiposity markers, and earlier bedtimes were related to lower BMI z-score. Compared to sleeping <10 h, longer baseline sleep duration favourably predicted Δwaist z-score in girls (≥10 and <11 h (β-coefficient (95% confidence interval [CI])): -0.06 (-0.12 to -0.01)) and boys (≥11 h: -0.10 [-0.18 to -0.01]). Combined groups that were defined by longer sleep (later-longer and earlier-longer sleep patterns) were associated with lower adiposity, and later-longer sleep favourably predicted Δwaist z-score in girls (-0.09 [-0.15 to -0.02]). In adolescents, longer sleep durations and earlier bedtimes were associated with lower BMI z-score in the whole sample, and also with lower waist z-score in boys. Combined groups that were characterized by earlier bedtimes were associated with the same outcomes. For example, earlier-shorter (-0.22 (-0.43 to -0.01) and earlier-longer (-0.16 (-0.25 to -0.06) sleep were both associated with lower BMI z-score.
If the associations are causal, longer sleep duration and earlier bedtimes should be targeted for obesity prevention, emphasizing longer sleep for children and earlier bedtimes for adolescents.