Sleep duration predicts cardiometabolic risk in obese adolescents

To examine the independent contributions of objectively measured sleep duration and fragmentation on cardiometabolic risk accumulation in free-living obese adolescents.

Characteristics of metabolic syndrome (waist circumference, mean arterial pressure, fasting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose) were measured in obese adolescents and standardized residuals (z-scores) were summed (inverse high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) to create a continuous cardiometabolic risk score (cMetScore), adjusted for age, sex, and race. Sleep and physical activity were objectively measured in habitual, free-living conditions for 7 days (SenseWear Pro3, BodyMedia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; n = 37; 54% female, ages 11-17 years). Associations between sleep duration and cMetScore were assessed via multiple linear regression.

Body mass index, total sleep time, and sleep session length were each correlated with cMetScore (P < .05 all). Total sleep time was inversely and independently associated with cMetScore (r = -0.535, P = .001) and was the best independent predictor of metabolic risk.

Sleep duration inversely predicts cardiometabolic risk in obese adolescents, even when we controlled for various measures of physical activity, anthropometry, and adiposity. Further research should investigate the biological mechanism of this relationship and the potential treatment effect of sleep intervention in decreasing cardiometabolic risk in this population.