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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Dec:124:606-612.
doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2024.10.035. Epub 2024 Oct 30.

Impact of sleep restriction on biomarkers of thyroid function: Two pooled randomized trials

Megan E Petrov  1 , Faris M Zuraikat  2 , Bin Cheng  3 , Brooke Aggarwal  4 , Sanja Jelic  5 , Blandine Laferrère  6 , Marie-Pierre St-Onge  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact of sleep restriction on biomarkers of thyroid function: Two pooled randomized trials

Megan E Petrov et al. Sleep Med. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Chronic, mildly insufficient sleep is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk, but whether the regulation of thyroid hormones and related growth factors are mechanisms of this association is unclear. We investigated whether 6 wk of mild sleep restriction (SR) alters levels of free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21), a modulator of FT4, in adults with adequate habitual sleep (AS; 7-9 h/night).

Methods: Healthy adults participated in one of two randomized, crossover studies with identical 6-wk intervention phases: AS and SR (1.5 h/night < AS). Fasted blood samples were collected at baseline and endpoint of each phase. Outcomes were concentrations of FT4, TSH, and FGF-21 (women only). Linear mixed models tested the effects of SR vs AS on the outcomes, adjusting for baseline levels, week, sex, and sex-by-condition interaction.

Results: Thirty participants (20 women; 73% racial/ethnic minority; age 21-64 y [M±SD = 36.2 ± 12.8 y]) were included. In the full sample, no effects of SR on FT4 (β±SE = 0.02 ± 0.04, p = 0.654) or TSH (β±SE = -0.02 ± 0.04, p = 0.650) were observed; however, there were sex-by-condition interactions for both FT4 (p-interaction = 0.056) and TSH (p-interaction = 0.049). In sex-stratified analyses, TSH was reduced in SR vs. AS in women (β±SE = -0.11 ± 0.04, p = 0.011, Cohen's f2 = 0.55) but not men (β±SE = 0.09 ± 0.08, p = 0.261). Among women (n = 17), FGF-21 was not significantly different between conditions (β±SE = 8.51 ± 17.70, p = 0.638).

Conclusion: Prolonged mild SR reduces TSH in women, whereas FT4 and FGF-21 remain unaffected compared with AS. If sustained, disruptions to the thyrotropic axis in women may contribute to their more pronounced cardiometabolic risk in response to SR compared with men.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02835261 NCT02960776.

Keywords: Growth factors; Insufficient sleep; Sex; Subclinical hyperthyroidism; Thyrotropic axis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:

Marie-Pierre St-Onge reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. Marie-Pierre St-Onge reports financial support was provided by American Heart Association. Sanja Jelic reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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