Association between sleep duration and obesity in patients with type 2 diabetes: A longitudinal study

Esraa A. Makhdom*, Alisha Maher, Ryan Ottridge, Mathew Nicholls, Asad Ali, Brendan G. Cooper, Ramzi A. Ajjan, Srikanth Bellary, Wasim Hanif, Fahmy Hanna, David Hughes, Vijay Jayagopal, Rajni Mahto, Mayank Patel, James Young, Ananth U. Nayak, Mimi Z. Chen, Julie Kyaw‐Tun, Susana Gonzalez, Ravikanth GouniAnuradhaa Subramanian, Nicola J. Adderley, Abd A. Tahrani

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Obesity is prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and negatively impacts diabetes outcomes. While studies in the general population have established a link between sleep duration and obesity, this relationship in T2D remains unclear.

Objectives: To assess the association between sleep duration and adiposity in patients with T2D.

Methods: This prospective study of adults enrolled in the SLEEP T2D study from 13 UK NHS Trusts. Sleep duration was self‐reported using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and categorized as short (≤ 6 h/ night), long (> 9 h/night) or (normal > 6‐9 h/night). Adiposity was assessed using body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

Results: Among 229 patients (61% male, mean age 61.2 ( ± $$ \pm $$ 11.7) years, 63.7% with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). At baseline, sleep duration negatively correlated with BMI (r = −0.27, p < 0.001) and waist circumference (r = −0.25, p = 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders in different models, short sleep duration was associated with higher BMI (β = −1.01; p = 0.006) and waist circumference (β = −1.91; p = 0.01). Following a median follow‐up of 26.5 months, short sleep at baseline was associated with a 5% or more gain in BMI (adjusted OR 10.03; 95% CI 1.55–64.84; p = 0.01).

Conclusion: Short sleep duration is associated with higher adiposity measures (BMI and waist circumference) and weight gain in patients with T2D. Addressing sleep duration may reduce the burden of obesity in T2D, and future studies in this area are warranted.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere70051
Number of pages11
JournalDiabetic Medicine
Volume42
Issue number6
Early online date17 Apr 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 17 Apr 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Diabetic Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Diabetes UK. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords

  • sleep duration
  • body mass index
  • waist circumference
  • type 2 diabetes

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