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. 2024 Nov 26;24(1):3291.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20824-y.

Association between sleep and gallstone disease in United States adults: A cross-sectional study

Qian Zhuang #  1 , Jinnian Cheng #  2 , Shan Wu  1 , Shuang Shen  1 , Dan Huang  1 , Min Ning  1 , Jie Xia  1 , Zhixia Dong  3 , Xinjian Wan  4
Affiliations

Association between sleep and gallstone disease in United States adults: A cross-sectional study

Qian Zhuang et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Both gallstone disease and sleep disorders are important public health problems. Few studies to date have investigated the associations between sleep and gallstone disease in humans. This study aimed to assess whether sleep factors (sleep time, sleep amounts, trouble sleeping) were associated with gallstone disease in the United States adults.

Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional study of US adults, which included data of participants aged over 20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) gathered between 2017 and March 2020. The assessment of gallstone disease and sleep factors was based on self-reported data. We used sample-weighted logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models to explore the associations between sleep factors and gallstone disease. Subgroup analyses were conducted to assess the interaction between trouble sleeping and interacting factors.

Results: The prevalence of gallstone disease was 11% among the 9,210 adult participants. Going to bed late on weekdays (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.74) and weekends (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.78), and short sleep duration on weekdays (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.68) were factors associated with increased risk of gallstone disease, and we detected dose-response associations with the restricted cubic spline model (RCS) models, after adjusting for confounders. Presenting trouble sleeping was associated with increased risk of gallstone disease (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.03 to 2.23) and the association was influenced by the presence of thyroid disease (P for interaction = 0.037).

Conclusions: Our study results indicate that going to bed late, short sleep duration, and trouble sleeping were associated with increased risk of gallstone disease in a nationally representative sample of adults in the US.

Keywords: Gallstone disease, sleep time; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Sleep amounts; Trouble sleeping.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The NHANES data used in this study are publicly available. As an analysis of existing, anonymized data, the present study did not require Internal Review Board approval. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of participants enrollment in the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Restricted cubic spline model analysis on the odds ratios of sleep time on weekdays and weekends in relation to development of gallstone disease Models are adjusted for age group, sex, race and ethnicity, sedentary activity, obesity, alcohol drinking status, smoking status, fatty liver, diabetes, and thyroid disease. Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Restricted cubic spline model on the odds ratios of sleep amounts on weekdays and weekends in relation with the development of gallstone disease Models are adjusted for age group, sex, race and ethnicity, sedentary activity, obesity, alcohol drinking status, smoking status, fatty liver, diabetes, and thyroid disease. Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Subgroup analyses on the associations between trouble sleeping and development of gallstone disease In each stratification, we adjusted the model for age group, sex, race and ethnicity, sedentary activity, obesity, alcohol drinking status, smoking status, fatty liver, diabetes, and thyroid disease excepting the stratification factor itself. The reference group for each subgroup is people who did not report trouble sleeping. We used sample-weighted logistic regression models. Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval
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