Kids with sleep problems at risk for obesity

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sleeping problems at age 2 to 4 years are associated with an increased the risk of being overweight or obese in young adulthood, according to research published this month.

Shorter sleep duration in adults has been associated with increased risk of obesity and death, the researchers note, but no studies have examined the long-term effect of sleep difficulties in childhood on the later development of obesity.

Dr. Abdullah Al Mamun from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and colleagues investigated the possible association between sleeping problems in childhood and obesity at age 21 years 2,494 individuals born between 1981 and 1983.

They found that an increasing frequency of sleeping problems at ages 2 to 4 years was associated with increasing body weight at age 21 years. "Similarly, the prevalences of overweight and obesity at age 21 years increased with increasing frequency of having experienced sleeping problems at ages 2-4 years," the investigators write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Sleeping problems in early life increased the odds of being obese in young adulthood by 90 percent, the report indicates.

These associations were independent of potentially confounding factors and persisted after the researchers adjusted for things like adolescent dietary patterns, family meals, and adolescent TV viewing time.

"This study adds some evidence for the suggestion that less sleep during childhood may result in greater obesity in young adulthood," the researchers conclude.

"It remains uncertain, however, whether the association in children is with duration of sleep or with sleep disturbance of another type."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, December 15, 2007.