Associations Between Sleep Duration, Wake-Up Time, Bedtime, and Abdominal Obesity: Results From 9559 Chinese Children Aged 7-18 Years

• Published in: Frontiers in endocrinology (Lausanne) Vol. 12; p. 735952
• Main Authors: Liu, Meijuan, Cao, Bingyan, Luo, Qipeng, Wang, Qiao, Liu, Min, Liang, Xuejun, Wu, Di, Li, Wenjing, Su, Chang, Chen, Jiajia, Gong, Chunxiu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 14.10.2021
• Subjects: abdominal obesity; Adolescent; bedtime; Body Weight; Child; children; China; Cross-Sectional Studies; Endocrinology; Female; Humans; Life Style; Male; Obesity, Abdominal - physiopathology; Pediatric Obesity - physiopathology; Sleep - physiology; sleep duration; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time Factors; Waist Circumference - physiology; wake-up time; weekend; China; sleep duration; wake-up time; abdominal obesity; children; bedtime; weekend
• ISSN: 1664-2392; 1664-2392
• DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.735952

To investigate the associations of sleep duration, wake-up time, bedtime, and childhood abdominal obesity, and to test whether there is a weekday/weekend difference and the potential modifying role of sex. This cross-sectional study was based on the Students' Constitution and Health Survey and included 9559 students (4840 boys and 4719 girls) aged 7-18 years (7227 aged 7-12 years, 2332 aged 13-18 years). They were divided into two groups (control group and group with abdominal obesity). The physical measurements included children and youth body height, body weight, and waist circumference (WC). A parent-report questionnaire was used to collect the information about parent characteristics as well as lifestyle and sleep patterns (sleep duration, bedtime, and wake-up time of weekdays and weekends) of children and youth. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 30.57% and the percentages of sleep duration <9 hours/day, wake-up time before 07:00 am on weekdays and weekends, bedtime after 10:00 pm on weekends were significantly higher in the group with abdominal obesity. After adjusting for confounders, sleep duration <9 hours/day on weekends was inversely related to abdominal obesity in the overall subjects, regardless of their sex and age, while bedtime after 10:00 pm on weekends was inversely related to abdominal obesity only in the overall subjects, boys, and children aged 7-12 years. Logistic regression models in all subjects showed that shorter hours of weekends sleep duration were associated with greater risks of abdominal obesity, even after adjusting for all confounders, including wake-up time and bedtime. The adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of abdominal obesity (with ≥10 hours/day as the reference group) for children with 9-10 hours/day, 8-9 hours/day, and <8 hours/day of weekend sleep duration were 1.23 (1.04-1.46), 1.59 (1.32-1.91) and 1.83 (1.42-2.36), respectively. Specifically, after stratification by sex and age, this phenomenon was only observed in boys and children aged 7-12 years. Sleep duration and bedtime on weekends were independently associated with the risk of childhood abdominal obesity, particularly in boys and children aged 7-12 years.