Association between sleep duration and incidence of type 2 diabetes in China: the REACTION study

Inadequate sleep duration is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and the relationship is nonlinear. We aim to assess the curve relationship between night sleep duration and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in China.

A cohort of 11,539 participants from the REACTION study without diabetes at baseline (2011) were followed until 2014 for the development of type 2 diabetes. The average number of hours of sleep per night was grouped. Incidence rates and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for the development of diabetes in each sleep duration category.

Compared to people who sleep for 7 to 8 h/night, people with longer sleep duration (≥9 h/night) had a greater risk of type 2 diabetes (OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.01-1.61), while shorter sleep (<6 h/night) had no significant difference in risk of type 2 diabetes. When the dataset was stratified based on selected covariates, the association between type 2 diabetes and long sleep duration became more evident among individuals <65 years of age, male, body mass index <24 kg/m 2 or with hypertension or hyperlipidemia, no interaction effects were observed. Furthermore, compared to people persistently sleeping 7 to 9 h/night, those who persistently slept ≥9 h/night had a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The optimal sleep duration was 6.3 to 7.5 h/night.

Short or long sleep duration was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Persistently long sleep duration increased the risk.