Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May 26:342:d2712.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.d2712.

Longitudinal analysis of sleep in relation to BMI and body fat in children: the FLAME study

Philippa J Carter  1 , Barry J Taylor, Sheila M Williams, Rachael W Taylor
Affiliations

Longitudinal analysis of sleep in relation to BMI and body fat in children: the FLAME study

Philippa J Carter et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether reduced sleep is associated with differences in body composition and the risk of becoming overweight in young children.

Design: Longitudinal study with repeated annual measurements.

Setting: Dunedin, New Zealand.

Participants: 244 children recruited from a birth cohort and followed from age 3 to 7.

Main outcome measures: Body mass index (BMI), fat mass (kg), and fat free mass (kg) measured with bioelectrical impedance; dual energy x ray absorptiometry; physical activity and sleep duration measured with accelerometry; dietary intake (fruit and vegetables, non-core foods), television viewing, and family factors (maternal BMI and education, birth weight, smoking during pregnancy) measured with questionnaire.

Results: After adjustment for multiple confounders, each additional hour of sleep at ages 3-5 was associated with a reduction in BMI of 0.48 (95% confidence interval 0.01 to 0.96) and a reduced risk of being overweight (BMI ≥ 85th centile) of 0.39 (0.24 to 0.63) at age 7. Further adjustment for BMI at age 3 strengthened these relations. These differences in BMI were explained by differences in fat mass index (-0.43, -0.82 to -0.03) more than by differences in fat free mass index (-0.21, -0.41 to -0.00).

Conclusions: Young children who do not get enough sleep are at increased risk of becoming overweight, even after adjustment for initial weight status and multiple confounding factors. This weight gain is a result of increased fat deposition in both sexes rather than additional accumulation of fat free mass.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Comment in

References

    1. Sundblom E, Petzold M, Rasmussen F, Callmer E, Lissner L. Childhood overweight and obesity prevalences levelling off in Stockholm but socioeconomic differences persist. Int J Obes 2008;32:1525-30. - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health, New Zealand. A portrait of health: key results of the 2006/07 New Zealand health survey. Ministry of Health, 2008.
    1. Ogden CL, Carrol MD, Curtin LR, Lamb MM, Flegal KM. Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents, 2007-2008. JAMA 2010;303:242-9. - PubMed
    1. Iglowstein I, Jenni OG, Molinari L, Largo RH. Sleep duration from infancy to adolescence: reference values and generational trends. Pediatrics 2003;111:302-7. - PubMed
    1. Dollman J, Ridley K, Olds T, Lowe E. Trends in the duration of school-day sleep among 10- to 15-year-old South Australians between 1985 and 2004. Acta Paediatrica 2007;96:1011-4. - PubMed

Publication types