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Longitudinal association between short sleep, body weight, and emotional and learning problems in Hispanic and
Graciela E Silva1, James L Goodwin, Sairam Parthasarathy
1College of Nursing & Health Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004-0698, USA. graciela.silva@asu.edu
Insights
Children sleeping less than 7.5 hours per night face higher risks of obesity, anxiety, depression, and learning problems by early adolescence. This study highlights the critical role of adequate childhood sleep for long-term well-being.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Developmental Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- Adequate sleep is crucial for child development.
- Limited research quantifies the long-term impact of insufficient sleep on specific developmental outcomes.
- Polysomnography provides objective sleep duration measures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between objectively measured sleep duration in childhood and the subsequent development of obesity, anxiety, depression, and learning problems.
- To assess these outcomes five years after baseline sleep assessment.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study design.
- Inclusion of 304 children aged 6-12 years from the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea study.
- Classification of children based on polysomnogram-assessed sleep duration: ≥ 9 hours/night, >7.5 to <9 hours/night, and ≤7.5 hours/night.
Main Results:
- Children sleeping ≤7.5 hours/night showed significantly higher odds of being obese (OR=3.3) at follow-up compared to those sleeping ≥9 hours/night.
- Borderline significant increased odds were observed for overweight/obesity (OR=2.2), anxiety/depression (OR=3.3), and learning problems (OR=11.1) in the ≤7.5 hours sleep group.
- A mean increase in BMI of 1.7 kg/m² over 5 years was associated with sleeping ≤7.5 hours/night compared to ≥9 hours/night.
Conclusions:
- Reduced sleep duration (≤7.5 hours/night) in childhood is linked to an increased risk of higher body weight in early adolescence.
- Insufficient sleep is also associated with a greater likelihood of experiencing anxiety, depression, or learning difficulties in early adolescence.
- These findings underscore the importance of sufficient sleep for overall child health and development.
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.
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