Elsevier

Sleep Medicine

Volume 11, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 447-451
Sleep Medicine

Original Article
Sleep duration and obesity in a population-based study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2009.11.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Previous studies have demonstrated an association between sleep duration and obesity, but few population-based studies have examined the association. We examined the relationship between recent and usual lifetime sleep duration with the odds of obesity in 5549 women that participated in a population-based telephone survey.

Methods

The structured telephone interview included questions on usual sleep duration in adult life and the recent past, as well as height and weight and other demographic and lifestyle characteristics. We examined odds of overweight (BMI: 25–29.9 kg/m2), obesity (BMI: 30–39.9 kg/m2) and extreme obesity (BMI: ⩾40 kg/m2) according to reported sleep duration.

Results

Compared to women who slept 7–7.9 h per night, women who slept an average of <6 h per night in the recent past had significantly greater odds of obesity (Odds Ratio [OR]: 1.89; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.45–2.47) and extreme obesity (OR: 3.12; CI: 1.70–5.75), adjusting for potential confounding factors. Weaker associations were noted for short lifetime sleep duration. Current short sleep (<7 h) was associated with greater odds of obesity (⩾30 kg/m2) in those reporting less than 7 h (OR: 1.59; 95% CI: 0.93–2.78) and in those reporting 8 or more hours (OR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.33–2.32) of sleep throughout adult life.

Conclusions

Current short sleepers were more likely to be obese regardless of their usual sleep duration earlier in life. These findings do not support the hypothesis that sleep duration is a causal factor in obesity.

Introduction

The prevalence of obesity has doubled during the last 25 years, and currently one-third of adults in the United States are obese [1]. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of many chronic diseases including heart disease [2], diabetes [2] and cancers at multiple sites [3], [4]. Short sleep duration may increase the risk of obesity by altering hormones involved in the regulation of appetite [5]. In many cross-sectional studies, short sleep duration was associated with a higher body weight in adults and children (reviewed in [6], [7], [8]). A similar association has also been identified in several [9], [10], [11], [12], though not all [13], [14], [15], prospective longitudinal studies. A U-shaped association has also been observed in several studies [11], [16], [17], [18], [19] wherein both short and long sleep durations were associated with the odds of obesity. We examined the relationship between sleep duration and obesity in a population-based sample of more than 5000 adult US women. Unlike most previous cross-sectional studies, we were able to consider the association of both recent and usual lifelong sleep duration with the odds of obesity.

Section snippets

Methods

Women in this analysis were enrolled as controls in the Collaborative Breast Cancer Study, a population-based case–control study of determinants for breast cancer comprised of women ages 20–75 who resided in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Hampshire [20]. The study was conducted according to protocols approved by the institutional review boards at each study site. Participants were randomly selected from drivers license lists if younger than age 65 or from a roster of Medicare beneficiaries if

Results

Characteristics of participants by sleep duration at the reference date are shown in Table 1. Older women reported sleeping fewer hours. Any alcohol consumption was less often reported by women reporting both short (<6 h) and long durations (⩾9 h) of sleep. Higher pack years of smoking were also associated with shorter sleep intervals. Women reporting fewer hours of sleep were more likely to be post-menopausal, not currently married, to have less than a high school education and to not

Discussion

In this population-based study, we found that obese and severely obese women were more likely to report shorter durations of sleep in the recent past and over their adult lifetimes. The odds of being overweight (defined as a body mass index of 25–29.9 kg/m2) were also modestly increased among women reporting habitual shorter sleep durations in adult life. This association was consistently observed regardless of a woman’s age, physical activity levels, smoking, and employment status. Obesity was

Conflicts of interest

None.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Cancer Institute Grants R01 CA47147, R01 CA47305, and R01 CA69664.

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