Changes in sleep duration and risk of metabolic syndrome: the Kailuan prospective study

Using a large longitudinal data set spanning 4 years, we examined whether a change in self-reported sleep duration is associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Current analysis included 15,753 participants who were free of MetS during both 2006–2007 and 2010–2011. Sleep duration was categorized into seven groups: ≤5.5 h, 6.0–6.5 h, 7.0 h, 7.5–8.0 h, ≥8.5 h, decrease ≥2 h, and increase ≥2 h. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and their confidence intervals (CI) for MetS, according to sleep duration. Compared to the reference group of persistent 7-h sleepers, a decrease of ≥2 h sleep per night was associated with a higher risk of incident MetS (HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.05–1.44) in analyses adjusted for age, sex, sleep duration at baseline, marital status, monthly income per family member, education level, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, body mass index, snoring status and resting heart rate. An increased risk of MetS incidence was also observed in persistent short sleepers (average ≤5.5 h/night; HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.01–1.50). This study suggests individuals whose sleep duration decreases ≥2 h per night are at an increased risk of MetS.