Associations between sleep and overweight/obesity in adolescents vary by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Xiaopeng Ji, Lauren B Covington, Freda Patterson and 2 others
PMID 36443810WHAT IT FOUND
Longer reported sleep was linked with lower adolescent overweight/obesity, but mainly in White, higher-income, and higher-parental-education groups.
For Hispanic, low-income, or lower-parental-education adolescents, sleep alone did not show the same association.
Key findings
01Each higher reported sleep-duration category was associated with a 7% lower odds of overweight/obesity.
02Sleep regularity was not associated with overweight/obesity after controlling for sleep duration and covariates.
03The sleep-duration association was significant only in White adolescents, those with primary caregiver education above high school, and those with family income at or above 400% of the federal poverty level.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design cannot show whether sleep affects weight, weight affects sleep, or both share causes. Sleep and height/weight came from caregiver reports, and parents may overestimate sleep time. Sleep duration and regularity were captured with single items, which may not fully describe sleep. Only 1.54% of adolescents were classified as long sleepers, so the study could not examine whether very long sleep also relates to weight. Dietary intake and screen-based sedentary behaviours were not included, so the models may miss important explanations. The study did not test sex, household smoking, daily exercise, or depressive symptoms as moderators or mediators.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The data are publicly available from the NSCH website.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the subgroup associations as proof that increasing sleep will reduce adolescent overweight or obesity. The study is cross-sectional, uses caregiver-reported sleep and height/weight, and did not test a sleep intervention.