Objectively measured sleep patterns in obese youth

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe sleep patterns in obese children and adolescents seeking treatment at a pediatric weight management program. Methods: Participants were 163 patients between the ages of 7 and 17 y (71 males, 92 females; mean 11.8 ± 2.6 y; mean BMI percentile 97.8 ± 2.2), who were seeking treatment at a multi-disciplinary pediatric weight management program between June 2008 and January 2011. Participants wore the SenseWear Armband continuously for seven days as part of baseline assessments. In order to be included in the analysis, participants were required to wear the armband for at least 14 hours on at least 4 days of the week. Descriptive statistics were determined for the total sample and both sexes. Participants were classified based on sleep time according to three cut-points: 9 hours/day, 10 hours/day, and 6 hours/day. Intra-individual variation was determined from the coefficient of variation (CV). Analyses were performed in October 2011. Results: Average daily sleep was 6.8 ± 1.1 hours with no differences between sexes. Only 3.1% of the sample slept ≥ 9 hours/day, while 1.2% slept ≥ 10 hours/day. Conversely, 18.4% slept < 6 hours/day. The mean CV for sleep time was 16.9% and did not differ between sexes. Conclusions: These results suggest that few treatment-seeking obese youth meet sleep recommendations. Objective assessment of sleep characteristics is superior to self-report in that it allows for quantification of periods of wakefulness throughout the night that cannot be captured via self-report. Future studies should include evaluation of sleep efficiency and sleep latency to further characterize sleep habits and quality among obese youth.