Abstract P268: Long and Short Sleep and Obesity in the Women’s Health Study

Abstract

Background: Although evidence suggests that extremes of sleep (i.e. long and short) are associated with cardiovascular disease-related risk factors in the general population, research examining the association between the extremes of sleep and obesity in older women is limited. Methods and Results: We used the Women’s Health Study (WHS) 2012-2013 follow-up cohort of 21,726 older women (mean age = 72.1 ± 6.0 years old) to examine the cross-sectional association between extremes of sleep and obesity. Women with cancer or missing body mass index (BMI) data were excluded. Long sleep was defined as > 9 hours/day, short sleep as < 6 hours/day, and sleep of 6-9 hours/day was the reference. Sleep duration and BMI were self-reported measures. Approximately 23.3% of women were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ). Overall, women who were obese and had either long or short sleep were less likely to exercise, and more likely to have history of diabetes, depression symptoms, and lower education and income levels. Women who were obese and long sleepers were more likely to use alcohol and have history of hypertension, while short sleepers were more likely to be current smokers. Logistic regression analyses revealed that older women with long sleep and short sleep had 30% higher odds of obesity, respectively, compared to women who slept 6-9 hours, adjusting for age and race/ethnicity. These relationships were attenuated and lost significance when controlling for potential important confounders (Table 1). Conclusion: Older women reporting extremes of sleep had higher odds of obesity compared to women who sleep 6-9 hours, after control for age and race/ethnicity. Further adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and socioeconomic parameters resulted in loss of significance.