Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for Diabetes Incidence in a Large US Sample

• Published in: Sleep (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 30; no. 12; pp. 1667 - 1673
• Main Authors: GANGWISCH, James E, HEYMSFIELD, Steven B, BODEN-ALBALA, Bernadette, BUIJS, Ruud M, KREIER, Felix, PICKERING, Thomas G, RUNDLE, Andrew G, ZAMMIT, Gary K, MALASPINA, Dolores
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rochester, MN American Academy of Sleep Medicine 01.12.2007; Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis of Variance; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; Etiopathogenesis. Screening. Investigations. Target tissue resistance; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Hypertension - epidemiology; Incidence; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Obesity - epidemiology; Odds Ratio; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Risk Factors; Sampling Studies; Sleep; Sleep Deprivation - epidemiology; Sleep Duration and Diabetes; United States; United States; Endocrinopathy; Sleep; Diabetes mellitus; Risk factor; Duration; Sleep wake cycle; Epidemiology; Public health; Incidence
• ISSN: 0161-8105; 1550-9109
• DOI: 10.1093/sleep/30.12.1667

To explore the relationship between sleep duration and diabetes incidence over an 8- to 10-year follow-up period in data from the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). We hypothesized that prolonged short sleep duration is associated with diabetes and that obesity and hypertension act as partial mediators of this relationship. The increased load on the pancreas from insulin resistance induced by chronically short sleep durations can, over time, compromise beta-cell function and lead to type 2 diabetes. No plausible mechanism has been identified by which long sleep duration could lead to diabetes. Multivariate longitudinal analyses of the NHANES I using logistic regression models. Probability sample (n=8992) of the noninstitutionalized population of the United States between 1982 and 1992. Subjects between the ages of 32 and 86 years. Between 1982 and 1992, 4.8% of the sample (n=430) were determined by physician diagnosis, hospital record, or cause of death to be incident cases of diabetes. Subjects with sleep durations of 5 or fewer hours (odds ratio = 1.47, 95% confidence interval 1.03-2.09) and subjects with sleep durations of 9 or more hours (odds ratio = 1.52, 95% confidence interval 1.06-2.18) were significantly more likely to have incident diabetes over the follow-up period after controlling for covariates. Short sleep duration could be a significant risk factor for diabetes. The association between long sleep duration and diabetes incidence is more likely to be due to some unmeasured confounder such as poor sleep quality.