Sleep Duration and Obesity among Adolescents Transitioning to Adulthood: Do Results Differ by Sex?

Citation

Suglia, Shakira F.; Kara, Seema; & Robinson, Whitney R. (2014). Sleep Duration and Obesity among Adolescents Transitioning to Adulthood: Do Results Differ by Sex?. The Journal of Pediatrics. vol. 165 (4) pp. 750-754 , PMCID: PMC4177276

Abstract

Objectives To examine the association between short sleep duration and obesity among adolescents (mean age 16 years) transitioning into young adulthood (mean age 21 years) in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10 076).
Study design Self-reported sleep duration was categorized as <6, 6-8, or >8 hours. Obesity status, using measured height and weight, was defined as body mass index ≥95th percentile in adolescence and body mass index ≥30 kg/m2 in young adulthood. Results Cross-sectionally, short sleep duration was associated with obesity in adolescent males (prevalence ratio 1.8 [95% CI, 1.3-2.4]) but not in females (prevalence ratio 1.0 [95% CI, 0.7-1.4]). In longitudinal analyses, short sleep duration in adolescence was associated with incident obesity in both males and females (risk ratio 1.2 [95% CI, 1.0-1.6]) in young adulthood. No interactions by sex were noted.
Conclusions Analyzing the association of sleep duration and obesity longitudinally resolved sex discrepancies observed in earlier cross-sectional analyses. Optimizing sleep duration during adolescence may be an effective intervention to prevent excess weight gain in young adults.

URL

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347614005976

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

The Journal of Pediatrics

Author(s)

Suglia, Shakira F.
Kara, Seema
Robinson, Whitney R.

Year Published

2014

Volume Number

165

Issue Number

4

Pages

750-754

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.06.052

PMCID

PMC4177276

NIHMSID

NIHMS616494

Reference ID

5048