Meeting Sleep Duration Recommendations is Associated With Lower Abdominal Adipose Tissue in 10-Year-Old Boys

Objective: This study aimed to examine sex-stratified associations between meeting recommended sleep duration and adiposity in 10-year-old children. Methods: Using the GUSTO cohort (51% boys, 10.2 ± 0.2 years), we evaluated the associations of meeting sleep duration recommendations (total daily sleep duration of ≥ 9 h, caregiver-reported and actigraphy) throughout the week with obesity and BMI z-scores (N = 638), glycoprotein acetyls (n = 436), fat mass measured by quantitative magnetic resonance (n = 528), and abdominal adipose tissue volumes measured by magnetic resonance imaging (N = 377). Multivariable linear and logistic regressions were used, adjusted for ethnicity and maternal education. Results: Boys, but not girls, whose caregiver-reported sleep duration met recommendations throughout the entire week had a lower risk of obesity (BMIz > 2.0) (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.27–0.87), BMIz (0.34 ± 0.16 vs. 0.98 ± 0.12) (p = 0.001), glycoprotein acetyls levels (0.65 ± 0.01 mmol/L vs. 0.70 ± 0.01 mmol/L) (p < 0.001), total fat mass (8.77 ± 0.69 kg vs. 11.31 ± 0.51 kg) (p = 0.002), and deep subcutaneous (492 ± 86 mL vs. 729 ± 56 mL) (p = 0.014), superficial subcutaneous (651 ± 85 mL vs. 888 ± 55 mL) (p = 0.013), and visceral (415 ± 51 mL vs. 557 ± 33 mL) (p = 0.013) adipose tissue volumes. Conclusions: Interventions to help children attain recommended sleep duration for weekdays and weekends may reduce abdominal and total adiposity, especially in boys.