Associations of multiple sleep dimensions with overall and abdominal obesity among children and adolescents: a population-based cross-sectional study

Background The relationship of insufficient sleep with the increased risk of obesity has been reported, but less is known about other sleep dimensions in the sleep-obesity associations. Objectives To assess the associations of multiple sleep dimensions with overall and abdominal obesity among Chinese students. Methods This was a cross-sectional study involving 10,686 Han students aged 9–18 from Chinese National Survey on Students’ Constitution and Health (CNSSCH). We collected sex, age, regions, parental educational levels, physical activity duration and sleep-related information by questionnaire survey, and also conducted anthropometric measurements including height, weight and waist circumference (WC). Unadjusted and adjusted binary logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations of sleep-related dimensions with obesity-related indicators. Results Short sleep duration was associated with higher body mass index (BMI), larger WC and higher waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in 9–12 and 16–18 age groups, whereas prolonged sleep duration on weekday was associated with higher BMI in 13–15 age group. Non-habitual midday napping and midday napping ≤0.5 h/d (vs 0.5 to 1 h/d) increased the risk of higher BMI in 13–15 age group, and the former was also associated with larger WC in 9–12 age group. Late bedtime was associated with larger WC and higher WHtR in 9–12 age group and with higher BMI and WHtR in 13–15 age group. Students aged 9–12 with social jet lag ≥2 h were found to have greater BMI after adjustment (Odds Ratio: 1.421; 95% confidence interval: 1.066–1.894). Conclusions Short or overlong sleep duration, late bedtime and great social jet lag were associated with higher prevalence of overall or abdominal obesity, while moderate midday napping can effectively decrease the risk. Those findings may assist in developing preventive strategies to combat obesity epidemic.