An association between average daily sleep duration and gallstones in US adults

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 4573 - 10
• Main Authors: Fang, Yong, Xu, Qiuyuan, Xu, Jia, Wang, HaiHua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.02.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/308; 692/699; Adult; Aged; Alcohol; Asymptomatic; Average daily sleep duration; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Calculi; Cholesterol; Cross-sectional study; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Exercise; Female; Gallstones; Gallstones - epidemiology; Gender; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypertension; Investigations; Male; Medical diagnosis; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; NHANES; Nutrition Surveys; Prevalence; Public health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sleep; Sleep - physiology; Sleep Duration; Smoking; Standard deviation; Statistical analysis; Thyroid gland; Time Factors; Triglycerides; United States - epidemiology; Variables; United States; Average daily sleep duration; Gallstones; NHANES; Cross-sectional study
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-89157-z

Despite extensive research on the impact of health factors and sleep, the specific association between average daily sleep duration and the prevalence of gallstones in adults has not been thoroughly investigated. This study analyzes data from 7,441 individuals from the NHANES 2017–2020 dataset, using exclusion criteria to refine the participant pool. Employing multivariate logistic regression and subgroup analyses while controlling for potential confounders, we assessed the association between average daily sleep duration and the prevalence of gallstones. Our results revealed a statistically significant inverse association (OR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99; p  = 0.0236). This association was consistent across various demographic and health-related subgroups. Interestingly, the inflection points were observed among middle-aged adults (40–60 years) and individuals with diabetes. These findings could inform public health strategies on sleep management, potentially aiding in the prevention of gallstones within these populations.