Short Sleep Duration Is Associated With Increased Serum Homocysteine: Insights From a National Survey

Both short sleep duration and increased serum homocysteine levels are associated with cardiovascular events. However, research on the relationship between sleep duration and serum homocysteine levels is sparse. The aim of this study is to examine the association between sleep duration and serum homocysteine levels from a national database.

In total, 4,480 eligible participants older than 20 years who had serum homocysteine data and reported sleep duration were enrolled from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2005 to 2006. The association between sleep duration and serum homocysteine levels was analyzed using multivariate regression models for covariate adjustment.

Serum homocysteine level was lowest in individuals with a sleep duration of 7 hours and increased in those with both shorter and longer self-reported total sleep time (groups were categorized into ≤ 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours, 8 hours, and ≥ 9 hours). After adjustment for covariates, those in the group sleeping ≤ 5 hours had significantly higher serum homocysteine levels than the reference group (sleep duration of 7 hours). In subgroup analyses by sex, body mass index (BMI), and ethnicity, the association between short sleep duration (≤ 5 hours) and higher serum homocysteine levels persisted in women, individuals with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²), and non-Hispanic whites.

This study highlighted that short sleep duration was associated with higher serum homocysteine levels in women, individuals with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²), and non-Hispanic whites; this finding might suggest increased vulnerability to cardiovascular risk or other atherothrombotic events in these groups in the context of short sleep.