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. 2022 Feb 8:21:100429.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100429. eCollection 2022 May.

Sleep duration trajectories associated with levels of specific serum cytokines at age 5: A longitudinal study in preschoolers from the EDEN birth cohort

Masihullah Radmanish  1 , Olfa Khalfallah  2 , Nicolas Glaichenhaus  2 , Anne Forhan  1 , Barbara Heude  1 , Marie-Aline Charles  1 , Laetitia Davidovic  2 , Sabine Plancoulaine  1
Affiliations

Sleep duration trajectories associated with levels of specific serum cytokines at age 5: A longitudinal study in preschoolers from the EDEN birth cohort

Masihullah Radmanish et al. Brain Behav Immun Health. .

Abstract

Sleep is essential for optimal child development and health during the life course. However, sleep disturbances are common in early childhood and increase the risk of cognitive, metabolic and inflammatory disorders throughout life. Sleep and immunity are mutually linked, and cytokines secreted by immune cells could mediate this interaction. The sleep modulation of cytokines has been studied mostly in adults and adolescents; few studies have focused on school-aged children and none on preschoolers. We hypothesized that night sleep duration affects cytokine levels in preschoolers. In a sample of 687 children from the EDEN French birth cohort, we studied the associations between night sleep duration trajectories from age to 2-5 years old and serum concentrations of four cytokines (Tumor necrosis factor α [TNF-α], Interleukin 6 [IL-6], IL-10, Interferon γ [IFN)-γ] at age 5, adjusting for relevant covariates. As compared with the reference trajectory (≈11h30/night sleep, 37.4% of children), a shorter sleep duration trajectory (<10 ​h/night, 4.5% of children), and changing sleep duration trajectory (≥11h30/night then 10h30/night, 5.6% of children) were associated with higher serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α, respectively at age 5. We found no associations between sleep duration trajectories and IL-10 or IFN-γ levels. This first longitudinal study among children aged 2-5 years old suggests an impact of sleep duration on immune activity in early childhood. Our study warrants replication studies in larger cohorts to further explore whether and how immune activity interacts with sleep trajectories to enhance susceptibility to adverse health conditions.

Keywords: Children; Cohort; Cytokine; IL-10; IL-6; INF-γ; Longitudinal; Preschoolers; Sleep; TNF-α.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Night sleep trajectories for children from age 2 to 5-years in the EDEN population. SS: Short Sleep, MLS: Medium-Low Sleep, MHS: Medium-High Sleep, LS: Long Sleep, and CS: Changing Sleep. Dashed lines: 95% mean confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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