Associations between Sleep Duration and Overweight/Obesity: Results from 66,817 Chinese Adolescents

Sci Rep. 2015 Nov 16:5:16686. doi: 10.1038/srep16686.

Abstract

The findings about the shapes of associations between sleep duration and overweight/obesity in adolescents were largely inconsistent in the existing literature. We examined the functional forms of the associations between sleep duration and overweight/obesity in 66,817 Chinese adolescents by modelling sleep duration categorically and continuously. The adjusted ORs (95% CI) of overweight (with 7.0-8.9 h of sleep being considered the reference group) for subjects reporting <5.0 hours, 5.0-6.9 hours and ≥9.0 hours of sleep were 1.26 (1.05-1.51), 1.06 (1.00-1.11) and 1.27 (1.14-1.42), respectively. The adjusted ORs (95% CI) of obesity (with 7.0-8.9 h of daily sleep being considered as the reference group) for adolescents reporting <5.0 hours, 5.0-6.9 hours and ≥9.0 hours of sleep were 1.24 (0.97-1.57), 0.94 (0.87-1.01) and 1.42 (1.24-1.63), respectively. Continuous splines regressions support non-linear U shape associations between sleep duration and overweight/obesity, with the bottom at around 7.0-8.0 hours sleep (overweight: likelihood ratio = 32.7 p < 0.01; obesity: likelihood ratio = 40.4 p < 0.01). U-shape associations were found between sleep duration and overweight/obesity in Chinese adolescents and an optimal sleep duration of 7.0-8.0 hours sleep may prevent overweight/obesity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Body Mass Index
  • Child
  • China / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Motor Activity
  • Obesity / epidemiology*
  • Odds Ratio
  • Overweight / epidemiology*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Risk Factors
  • Sleep / physiology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Time Factors