Sleep and physical activity patterns in adults and children with Bardet-Biedl syndrome

Overweight and obesity are common features of the rare disease Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS). Sleep and physical activity are behaviors that might impact overweight and obesity and thus may play a key role in the health and well-being of people with BBS. Objectively-measured sleep and physical activity patterns in people with BBS are not well known. We evaluated objectively-measured sleep and physical activity patterns in the largest cohort to date of people with BBS.

Short sleep duration, assessed using wrist-worn accelerometers, was common in both children and adults with BBS. Only 7 (10%) of adults and 6 (8%) of children met age-specific sleep duration recommendations. Most adults 64 (90%) achieved recommended sleep efficiency. The majority of children 26 (67%) age 6-12 years achieved recommended sleep efficiency, but among children age 13-18, only 18 (47%). In both adults and children, sleep duration was significantly negatively correlated with duration of prolonged sedentary time. In children age 6-12 sleep duration was also significantly related to total activity score, children with lower sleep duration had lower total activity scores.

Insufficient sleep duration is very common in people with BBS. Prolonged sedentary time and short sleep duration are both potentially important health-related behaviors to target for intervention in people with BBS.