Association between sleep duration and menstrual cycle irregularity in Korean female adolescents

The association between sleep and the menstrual cycle in the adolescent population has been scarcely studied. This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration and menstrual cycle irregularity among female adolescents using nationwide representative data from the South Korean population.

This population-based, cross-sectional study used the data collected from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012, and the data from 801 female adolescents were analyzed. Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the risk of menstrual cycle irregularity in relation to sleep duration.

Subjects with menstrual cycle irregularity accounted for 15% (N = 120). The mean sleep duration in subjects with menstrual cycle irregularity was significantly shorter than that in those without (p = 0.003). Menstrual cycle irregularity prevalence tended to decrease as sleep duration increased (p for trend = 0.004), which was significantly different based on sleep duration and presence of depressive mood (p = 0.011). Sleep duration ≤5 h per day was significantly associated with increased risk of menstrual cycle irregularity compared with that in the subjects whose sleep duration is ≥8 h per day even after adjusting for confounding variables. The odds ratios of menstrual cycle irregularity tended to increase for shorter sleep duration in all adjusted models.

This study found a significant inverse association between sleep duration and menstrual cycle irregularity among Korean female adolescents. Increasing sleep duration is required to improve the reproductive health of female adolescents.