Inadequate Sleep Helps Predict Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes in Obese Teens

A study claims that inadequate sleep in obese adolescents predicts their risk of chronic diseases.

The study reported in the Journal of Pediatrics claims that obese adolescents suffering from a lack of sleep could be at an increased risk of developing various chronic diseases such as stroke, diabetes and heart diseases.

Studies in the past have linked inadequate sleep to an elevated risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in both adults and young children. But not much is known about this association in teens. In the United States nearly 30 percent of the obese teens suffer from low-quality sleep.

The current study was led by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and Baylor University. The study included 37 obese teens of age 11-17. Before the start of the study the researchers measured certain risk factors for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including blood sugar, BMI, blood pressure level, fasting cholesterol and the circumference of the waist. These factors were measured in order to create a cardiometabolic risk score.

As a part of the study, the subjects were fitted with a physical activity monitor that they had to wear 24 hours a day for one week. This device helped researchers measure the subject's physical activity levels.

They noticed that just one-third of the subjects met the minimum recommendation of 60 minutes physical activity a day. Most of them slept for seven hours each night and woke up atleast once during the sleep period. Only five subjects met the minimum recommendation of eight and a half hours of sleep per night.

The researchers noticed that even after taking into considered certain factors, they seen that inadequate sleep in obese teens was a major predictor of cardiometabolic risk.

"However, the strong association between sleep duration and cardiometabolic risk score independent of the effects of body composition and physical activity suggest a potential influence of sleep duration on cardiometabolic health in obese adolescents," says lead author Heidi IglayReger, Ph.D., supervisor of the Physical Activity Laboratory at the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center.

The study highlights that objective sleep assessment help to successfully trace the teens that are at a high risk.  The team plans to investigate whether improving the duration of sleep lowers the risk of cardiometabolic disease.