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The association of irregular sleep habits with the risk of being overweight/obese in a sample of Portuguese children aged 6–9 years
Author(s) -
MachadoRodrigues Aristides M.,
Fernandes Rômulo,
Gama Augusta,
Mourão Isabel,
Nogueira Helena,
RosadoMarques Vítor,
Padez Cristina
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23126
Subject(s) - overweight , obesity , medicine , demography , body mass index , confounding , portuguese , logistic regression , sleep (system call) , association (psychology) , pediatrics , gerontology , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , sociology , computer science , psychotherapist , operating system
Objectives The consequences of irregular sleep duration at younger ages remains uncertain, especially when we consider shorter and longer than recommended sleep durations. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the association between healthy sleep duration and risk of obesity in Portuguese children. Methods The sample for this cross‐sectional study comprised 8273 children (4183 females) aged 6–9 years. Height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Sleep habits and sedentary behaviors (i.e., TV viewing) were assessed by questionnaire. Logistic regressions were used. Results After adjustments for confounders, males who have irregular sleep duration were 1.28 times more likely to be classified as overweight or obese than their counterparts who had normal sleep duration on weekdays. No associations between sleep duration and overweight/obesity risk were found for girls, neither on weekdays nor on the weekend. For both boys and girls, the final model showed a significant inverse association between overweight/obesity risk and the educational level of fathers (males: 95% CI 0.51 to 0.79, P < .001; females: 95% CI 0.57 to 0.87, P < .01). Conclusion Findings revealed that shorter and longer than recommended sleep duration was positively associated with risk of obesity in boys on weekdays. Furthermore, pediatric obesity risk could be highly influenced by the education level of fathers of both males and females. Future research should extend a similar design, using objective measures of sleep duration to confirm some of the afore‐mentioned results.