Silva, G. E, Goodwin, J. L., Parthasarathy, S., Sherrill, D. L., Vana, K. D., Drescher, A. A., & Quan, S. F. (2011). Longitudinal association between short sleep, body weight, and emotional and learning problems in Hispanic and Caucasian children. Sleep, 34(9), 1197-205.
Full text

Abstract

Study Objective

To determine the impact of lower amounts of childhood sleep assessed by polysomnogram on development of obesity, being anxious or depressed, or having learning problems 5 years later.

Design

Prospective cohort.

Participants

Subjects were 304 community participants from the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea study, aged 6-12 years old at baseline.

Measurements and Results

Children were classified according to baseline sleep as those who slept ≥ 9 h/night, those who slept > 7.5 to < 9 h/night, and those who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night. Odds of overweight/obese (≥ 85(th) BMI percentile), obese (≥ 95(th) BMI percentile), anxious or depressed, and learning problems at follow-up were assessed according to baseline sleep categories. Children who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night had higher odds of being obese (OR = 3.3, P < 0.05) at follow-up than children who slept ≥ 9 h/night. Borderline significance for overweight/obese (OR = 2.2, P < 0.1), anxious or depressed (OR = 3.3, P < 0.1), and having learning problems (OR = 11.1, P < 0.1) were seen for children who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night as compared to those who slept ≥ 9 h/night. A mean increase in BMI of 1.7 kg/m(2) (P = 0.01) over the 5 years of follow-up was seen for children who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night compared to those who slept ≥ 9 h/night. These relationships did not differ between Hispanic and Caucasian children.

Conclusions

Children with reduced amounts of sleep (≤ 7.5 h/night) had an increased risk for higher body weight in early adolescence. Similarly, children who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night had higher risk of being anxious or depressed or having learning problems in early adolescence.

Keywords

Sleep time; body mass index; childhood; obesity

MeSH Terms
    Adolescent
    Anxiety Disorders/complications
    Anxiety Disorders/ethnology
    Child
    Cohort Studies
    Depressive Disorder/complications
    Depressive Disorder/ethnology*
    European Continental Ancestry Group*
    Female
    Hispanic Americans*
    Humans
    Learning Disorders/complications
    Learning Disorders/ethnology*
    Male
    Obesity/complications
    Obesity/ethnology*
    Sleep Apnea Syndromes/complications
    Sleep Apnea Syndromes/ethnology*
    Sleep Apnea Syndromes/psychology