Irregular sleep duration may raise risk for developing diabetes
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Key takeaways:
- Adults with a sleep duration standard deviation of more than 1 hour have a 34% higher risk for diabetes.
- The increased diabetes risk was highest among adults with a low genetic risk for diabetes.
Adults with a sleep duration that varies by a mean of more than 1 hour each night may have an increased risk for developing diabetes, according to a study published in Diabetes Care.
“Our study found that people with irregular sleep duration faced a 34% higher risk of developing diabetes compared to those with consistent sleep durations,” Sina Kianersi, PhD, DVM, a research fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine, department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Healio. “This increased risk remained significant even after considering factors like lifestyle habits, other health conditions, family history of diabetes and obesity. Additionally, the association between irregular sleep and diabetes risk was observed regardless of a person’s genetic likelihood of developing diabetes.”
Kianersi and colleagues obtained data from 84,421 adults without diabetes in the UK Biobank who participated in an accelerometer study from 2013 to 2015. Sleep duration was obtained from an accelerometer for 7 days. Sleep duration variability was defined as the standard deviation (SD) of sleep duration in hours across main sleep periods, the researchers wrote. Incident diabetes was collected from medical records, hospital inpatient data and death registers. Genetic risk for diabetes was determined through a polygenic risk score.
Sleep irregularity raises diabetes risk
During a median follow-up of 7.5 years, 2,058 adults developed diabetes. In a model adjusting for age, sex and race, adults with a sleep duration SD of 46 to 60 minutes (adjusted HR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.1-1.48), 61 to 90 minutes (aHR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.32-1.8) and 91 or more minutes (aHR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.33-1.9) had a higher risk for developing diabetes than those with a sleep duration SD of 30 minutes or less (P for trend < . 0001), the researchers reported. Associations remained significant among the 61-to-90-minute sleep duration SD group and the sleep duration SD group of 91 minutes or more in models adjusting for more covariates.
Adults with a sleep duration SD of more than 60 minutes had a higher diabetes risk than those who had a sleep duration SD of 60 minutes or less (aHR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.22-1.47). The population attributable risk suggests that 8.3% of diabetes cases in the study group could have potentially been prevented by reducing sleep duration SD from more than 60 minutes to 60 minutes or less, the researchers wrote.
Association strongest with low genetic risk
Greater sleep duration SD increased the risk for diabetes, regardless of polygenic risk score, the researchers wrote. However, the association was strongest in adults with a lower polygenic risk score.
Among those with a polygenic risk score in the lowest tertile, those with a sleep duration SD of more than 60 minutes had a greater diabetes risk than those with a sleep duration SD of 60 minutes or less (HR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.44-2.31). Adults in the intermediate polygenic risk score tertile (HR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.17-1.67) and highest tertile for polygenic risk score (HR = 1.21; 95% CI, 1.06-1.38) also had a higher risk for diabetes with a sleep duration SD of more than 60 minutes.
In a subgroup analysis, adults with a sleep duration of more than 8 hours per day (HR = 1.65; 95% CI, 1.33-2.04) or 7 to 8 hours per day (HR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.21-1.64) had a greater diabetes risk with a sleep duration SD of more than 60 minutes compared with 60 minutes or less. No association was observed among adults sleeping less than 7 hours per day, the researchers reported.
“Given these findings, health care providers might consider both the quantity and consistency of sleep when developing prevention and even care strategies, as regular sleep patterns are essential for reducing diabetes risk,” Kianersi said.
The researchers noted several study limitations, including some outdated lifestyle information collected 5 years before the accelerometer study, a short-term assessment of sleep and the lack of a diverse study population.
“Further research is needed to address our study’s limitations, explore the mechanisms through which irregular sleep increases diabetes risk, and determine if the results apply to other populations, including younger age groups and different racial backgrounds,” Kianersi said.
For more information:
Sina Kianersi, PhD, DVM, can be reached at skianersi@bwh.harvard.edu.
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