Association between Accelerometer-Measured Irregular Sleep Duration and Longitudinal Changes in Body Mass Index in Older Adults

medRxiv

Abstract

Irregular sleep duration may disrupt circadian rhythms and contribute to metabolic, behavioral, and mood changes, potentially increasing the risk for obesity. However, quantitative data on the relationship between sleep duration irregularity and weight change are lacking. In this prospective study, we analyzed data from 10,572 participants (mean age: 63 years) in the UK Biobank who wore accelerometers for a week between 2013-2015 and had two body mass index (BMI; kg/m 2 ) measurements on average 2.5 years apart. Irregular sleep duration was assessed by the within-person standard deviation (SD) of 7-night accelerometer-measured sleep duration. Participants with sleep duration SD >60 minutes versus ≤30 minutes had 0.24 kg/m 2 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.40) higher BMI change (kg/m 2 ), standardized to three-year intervals, and 80% (95% CI: 1.28, 2.52) higher risk for incident obesity, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, shift work, and baseline BMI or follow-up period (p-trend<0.02 for both). These associations remained consistent after adjusting for lifestyle, comorbidities, and other sleep factors, including sleep duration. Age, sex, baseline BMI, and genetic predisposition to higher BMI (measured with a polygenic risk score) did not appear to modify the association. Since irregular sleep duration is common, trials of interventions targeting sleep irregularity might lead to new public health strategies that tackle obesity.

Authors 8

1. Sina Kianersi

   Brigham and Women's Hospital · Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Brigham and Women's Hospital

2. Kaitlin Storck Potts

   Brigham and Women's Hospital · Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Brigham and Women's Hospital

3. Heming Wang

   Brigham and Women's Hospital · Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Brigham and Women's Hospital

4. Tamar Sofer

   Brigham and Women's Hospital · Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

   Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

   Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

5. Raymond Noordam Aachen Department of Internal Medicine Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics Health Campus The Hague/Department of Public Health and Primary Care

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

   Health Campus The Hague/Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, The Hague/Leiden, the Netherlands

   Leiden University Medical Center

6. Martin K. Rutter

   Manchester Academic Health Science Centre · Manchester Royal Infirmary · University of Manchester · Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust · NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK

   Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Gastroenterology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

   University of Manchester

7. Susan S Redline

   Brigham and Women's Hospital · Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

   Brigham and Women's Hospital

8. Tianyi Huang corresponding

   National Institute on Aging

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

   Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging