Actigraphic sleep fragmentation, efficiency, and duration associate with dietary intake in the Rotterdam Study

Abstract

Background

Short self-reported sleep duration is associated with dietary intake and this association may partly mediate the link between short sleep and metabolic abnormalities. Subjective sleep measures, however, may be inaccurate and biased.

Objective

To evaluate the associations between actigraphic measures of sleep fragmentation, efficiency and duration and energy and macronutrient intakes.

Methods

We used data from a subgroup of 439 participants of the population-based cohort, Rotterdam Study. Sleep was assessed using 7-d actigraphy and sleep diaries, and dietary data with a validated food frequency questionnaire. We assessed the associations of actigraphic sleep parameters with dietary intake using multivariable linear regression models.

Results

Higher sleep fragmentation was associated with 4.19 g lower carbohydrate intake per standard deviation of fragmentation [ β (95%CI) =-4.19 (-8.0, -0.3); P=0.03]. Each additional % increase in sleep efficiency was associated with 11.1 kcal lower energy intake [ β (95%CI) =-11.1 (-20.6, -1.7); P=0.02]. Furthermore, very short sleep duration (<5.5h) was associated with 218.1 kcal higher energy intake [ β (95%CI) =218.06 (33.3, 402.8), P=0.02], relative to the reference group (≥ 6.5 to <7.5h).

Conclusions

We observed associations between higher sleep fragmentation with lower carbohydrate intake, and both lower sleep efficiency and very short sleep duration (<5h) with higher energy intake. The association between short sleep duration and higher energy intake could in part mediate the link between short sleep or sleep fragmentation index and metabolic abnormalities.