Adverse Childhood Experiences May Dampen the Protective Role of Sleep Duration on Adolescent Obesity Risk

Lauren B Covington; Xiaopeng Ji; Janeese A Brownlow; Ming Ji; Freda Patterson

doi:10.1007/s10900-024-01344-7

Adverse Childhood Experiences May Dampen the Protective Role of Sleep Duration on Adolescent Obesity Risk

J Community Health. 2024 Apr 2. doi: 10.1007/s10900-024-01344-7. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lauren B Covington¹, Xiaopeng Ji², Janeese A Brownlow³, Ming Ji⁴, Freda Patterson⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Boulevard 3rd Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA. lcovingt@udel.edu.
² School of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Boulevard 3rd Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Delaware State University, Dover, DE, USA.
⁴ College of Population Health, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁵ Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.

PMID: 38565757
DOI: 10.1007/s10900-024-01344-7

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a moderator between sleep duration/irregularity and overweight/obesity in U.S. adolescents. Using the National Survey of Children's Health 2017-2018 cross-sectional dataset, we included adolescents with available sleep and Body Mass Index (BMI) data. In a sample of 24,100 adolescents (mean age = 13.56 years, 49.35% female; 51% White), parents reported adolescent's sleep duration/irregularity, and number of ACEs. Logistic regression estimated the interaction between sleep duration/irregularity and the number of ACEs on overweight/obesity risk (BMI ≥ 85th percentile-for-age) using a stepwise approach and accounting for complex survey design. In the 24,100 adolescents, 33% were overweight/obese, 50% had ≥ 1 ACE, 37% slept < 8-10 h/night, and 14% had irregular sleep. Accounting for covariates and ACEs, every hour increase in sleep duration was associated with 6% decrease in overweight/obesity odds. There was a significant interaction between sleep duration and ACEs; the association between increasing sleep duration and decreasing odds of overweight/obesity was significant only in adolescents without ACEs (OR = 0.87, 95% CI [0.80, 0.95], p < 0.001). Increasing sleep duration is a recognized intervention target to decrease obesity risk, yet in adolescents experiencing ≥ 1 ACE, this protective role may be dampened. Future work may explore mechanisms for overweight/obesity development to inform interventions for adolescents facing adversity.

Keywords: Adolescents; Adverse childhood experiences; Obesity; Overweight; Sleep health.

Abstract

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