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Sleep and obesity among children: A systematic review of multiple sleep dimensions

Bridget Morrissey1, Elsie Taveras2, Steven Allender1

  • 1Global Obesity Centre, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Pediatric Obesity
|February 20, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Obesity Research

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
  • Sleep is a critical factor in children's overall health and development.
  • Existing research suggests a link between sleep and weight status in children, but a comprehensive understanding of various sleep dimensions is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review the literature on the association between multiple dimensions of sleep and overweight/obesity in primary school-aged children (5-13 years).
  • To identify gaps in current research regarding sleep dimensions beyond duration and their impact on children's weight status.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic search was conducted across seven major databases (CINAHL, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Medline, Cochrane, Embase, PubMed).
  • Studies were included if they reported on the association between children's sleep and weight status, with specific exclusion criteria for clinical populations, non-English publications, and non-objectively measured weight.
  • 112 studies were included for detailed review from an initial pool of 34,248 citations.

Main Results:

  • A significant inverse association between sleep duration and measured weight status was found in 86 out of 103 articles.
  • Few studies investigated other sleep dimensions like sleep quality, efficiency, and bed/wake times in relation to children's weight status.
  • Variations in definitions and measurement of these sleep dimensions limited comparative analysis and potentially contributed to discrepancies in findings.

Conclusions:

  • While sleep duration shows a consistent inverse relationship with overweight/obesity in children, other sleep dimensions require further investigation.
  • There is a need for standardized definitions and validated measurement tools for various sleep dimensions in pediatric research.
  • Future studies should focus on a broader range of sleep parameters to fully understand their complex relationship with childhood weight status.

Keywords:
childrenobesityoverweightsleepsleep dimensions

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