Associations Between Change in Sleep Duration and Inflammation: Findings on C-reactive Protein and Interleukin 6 in the Whitehall II Study
Open accessAbstract
Cross-sectional evidence suggests associations between sleep duration and levels of the inflammatory markers, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. This longitudinal study uses data from the London-based Whitehall II study to examine whether changes in sleep duration are associated with average levels of inflammation from 2 measures 5 years apart. Sleep duration (≤5, 6, 7, 8, ≥9 hours on an average week night) was assessed in 5,003 middle-aged women and men in 1991/1994 and 1997/1999. Fasting levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 were measured in 1997/1999 and 2002/2004. Cross-sectional analyses indicated that shorter sleep is associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers. Longitudinal analyses showed that each hour per night decrease in sleep duration between 1991/1994 and 1997/1999 was associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein (8.1%) and interleukin-6 (4.5%) averaged across measures in 1997/1999 and 2002/2004. Adjustment for longstanding illness and major cardiometabolic risk factors indicated that disease processes may partially underlie these associations. An increase in sleep duration was not associated with average levels of inflammatory markers. These results suggest that both short sleep and reductions in sleep are associated with average levels of inflammation over a 5-year period.
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Comprehensive immune profiling in ME/CFS patients confirmed elevated TGF-β levels and lower resistin levels, and 17 cytokines, most of them pro-inflammatory, correlated with symptom severity.
“With the use of a comprehensive immune profiling approach in ME/CSF patients, elevated TGF-β levels were confirmed, in addition to findings of lower resistin levels (390), a protein participating in the inflammatory response and able to activate TNF in monocytes and macrophages (for review, see Ref. 187). In the same study, 17 cytokines, most of them pro-inflammatory, correlated with symptom sever”
From The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease (2019) · cites this paper as [187]
Laboratory studies have shown that physiologic sleep restriction is associated with a proinflammatory state, including elevations in inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1B, IL-6, IL-17, TNF-α, and C-reactive protein.
“Laboratory studies have shown that physiologic sleep restriction is associated with a proinflamma-tory state, including elevations in inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin 1B (IL-1B),64,65 IL-6,64,66–68 IL-17,64,69 tumor necrosis factor-α,64,68,70–72 and C-reactive protein.64,69,73–76”
From Sleep, Health, and Society (2017) · cites this paper as [66]
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- Authors
- Ferrie, J. E., Kivimaki, M., Akbaraly, T. N., Singh-Manoux, A., Miller, M. A., Gimeno, D., Kumari, M., Davey Smith, G., & Shipley, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Ferrie, J. E.
- Venue
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-06-25
- Volume
- 178
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 956-961
- ISSN
- 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6256
- PMC
- PMC3817449
- OpenAlex
- W2171613246
- Cited by
- 218
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 18.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- University of Warwick (cc-by)
- Funders
- British Heart Foundation (K013351, R01HL36310, HS06516, PG/11/63/29011, RG/13/2/30098)
- Dunhill Medical Trust (R247/0512)
- University of Warwick
- University College London
- University of Bristol
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
- National Institutes of Health (-0001)
- U.S. Public Health Service (R247/0512)
- Medical Research Council (MR/K013351/1, K013351, HS06516, R01HL36310)
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES 596-28-0001, ES/J023299/1)
- Warwick Medical School
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG34454, R01AG034454, R01-AG13196, R01AG013196)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HS06516, R01-HL36310, K013351, R01HL036310)
- Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Keywords
- sleep duration, inflammation, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, short sleep duration, sleep reduction, inflammatory markers, cardiometabolic risk factors, disease processes, Whitehall II study
- MeSH terms
- Adult, C-Reactive Protein, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Inflammation, London, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Sleep, Time Factors, Biomarkers, Interleukin-6
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