Adequate sleep helps prevent obesity in boys

A recent study suggests interventions for children to help them achieve their recommended sleep duration for weekdays and weekends and thus reduce abdominal and total adiposity, particularly in boys.

A team of investigators assessed the GUSTO cohort (mean age 10.2 years, 51 percent boys) to explore sex-stratified associations between meeting recommended sleep duration and adiposity in 10-year-old children. Specifically, they examined the association of optimal sleep durations (total daily sleep duration of ≥9 h, caregiver-reported and actigraphy) throughout the week with obesity and BMI z-scores (n=638), glycoprotein acetyls (n=436), fat mass measured by quantitative magnetic resonance (n=528), and abdominal adipose tissue volumes measured by magnetic resonance imaging (n=377).

The investigators used multivariable linear and logistic regressions, with adjustments for ethnicity and maternal education.

Boys, but not girls, whose caregiver-reported sleep duration met recommendations throughout the week showed a reduced risk of obesity (BMIz >2.0; odds ratio [OR], 0.49, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.27‒0.87), BMIz (0.34 vs 0.98; p=0.001), glycoprotein acetyl levels (0.65 vs 0.70 mmol/L; p<0.001), total fat mass (8.77 vs 11.31 kg; p=0.002), and deep subcutaneous (492 vs 729 mL; p=0.014), superficial subcutaneous (651 vs 888 mL; p=0.013), and visceral (415 vs 557 mL; p=0.013) adipose tissue volumes.

“Interventions to help children attain recommended sleep duration for weekdays and weekends may reduce abdominal and total adiposity, especially in boys,” the investigators said.