Diet Quality and Sleep Characteristics in Midlife: The Bogalusa Heart Study

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 9; p. 2078
• Main Authors: Potts, Kaitlin S, Wallace, Maeve E, Gustat, Jeanette, Ley, Sylvia H, Qi, Lu, Bazzano, Lydia A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Apnea; Biobanks; Body mass; Body mass index; Body size; Confidence intervals; Diet; diet quality; dietary patterns; Eating; Exercise; Food; Health care; Health disparities; Heart; Humans; Insomnia; Longitudinal Studies; Nutrition research; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Population; Public health; Questionnaires; Signs and symptoms; Sleep; Sleep apnea; Sleep apnea syndromes; Sleep Apnea Syndromes - epidemiology; sleep disordered breathing; Sleep disorders; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - epidemiology; sleep quality; Social factors; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Statistical analysis; Surveys; White people; Womens health; United States > US; sleep disordered breathing; sleep apnea; sleep quality; diet quality; dietary patterns; insomnia
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15092078

Sleep and diet contribute to cardiometabolic disease, but evidence is sparse for the association between these behaviors. This study analyzed the cross-sectional relationship between diet quality and multiple sleep outcomes in the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS). Diet and sleep characteristics, including insomnia and sleep apnea symptoms, were measured with validated questionnaires. Poisson regression using generalized estimating equations with a log link estimated prevalence rate ratios (PRR) of sleep outcomes by dietary pattern scores (quintile (Q) and per SD). Models were adjusted for body mass index (BMI), multi-level socioeconomic factors, physical activity, depressive symptoms, and other potential confounders. In 824 participants, higher diet quality, measured by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010, was associated with lower sleep apnea risk score after adjustment (PRR [95% confidence interval (CI)] Q5 vs. Q1: 0.59 [0.44, 0.79], per SD increase: 0.88 [0.81, 0.95], -trend < 0.0001). There were no statistically significant associations with the Healthy Eating Index 2015 or the Alternate Mediterranean dietary patterns, or for insomnia symptoms or a healthy sleep score. Higher diet quality, after adjustment for BMI, was associated with a lower sleep apnea risk score in a cohort with substantial minority representation from a semi-rural, lower-income community.