CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 237Sleep and related disordersObesity, Physical Activity, DietSleep and Wakefulness Research

Childhood Sleep Time and Long-Term Risk for Obesity: A 32-Year Prospective Birth Cohort Study

Landhuis, Carl Erik, Poulton, Richie, Welch, David, Hancox, Robert John·2008·Pediatrics
DOI 10.1542/peds.2007-3521
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. Associations between short sleep duration and increased BMI have been found in children and adults. However, it is not known whether short sleep time during childhood has long-term consequences. We assessed the association between sleep time in childhood and adult BMI in a birth cohort. METHODS. Study members were a general-population birth cohort of 1037 participants (502 female) who were born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973. Parental reports of bedtimes and rising times collected at ages 5, 7, 9, and 11 years were used to estimate childhood sleep time. Linear regression analysis was used to analyze the association between childhood sleep time and BMI measured at 32 years of age. RESULTS. Shorter childhood sleep times were significantly associated with higher adult BMI values. This association remained after adjustment for adult sleep time and the potential confounding effects of early childhood BMI, childhood socioeconomic status, parental BMIs, child and adult television viewing, adult physical activity, and adult smoking. In logistic regression analyses, more sleep time during childhood was associated with lower odds of obesity at 32 years of age. This association was significant after adjustment for multiple potential confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS. These findings suggest that sleep restriction in childhood increases the long-term risk for obesity. Ensuring that children get adequate sleep may be a useful strategy for stemming the current obesity epidemic.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1542/peds.2007-3521

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In pediatric populations, all 12 longitudinal studies found a positive association between short sleep and later obesity risk.

    “This pattern is particularly consistent in pediatric populations (all 12 studies had positive findings; reviewed in [80]; additional references: [21, 38, 89, 150]).”

    From Sleep and metabolic function (2012) · cites this paper as [89]

  • Among 28 longitudinal studies on short sleep and later obesity risk in children and adults, 22 found that short sleep was linked to greater weight gain, obesity, or fat mass after a few years.

    “Of the 28 longitudinal studies that examined the impact of short sleep on obesity risk in children and adults, 22 reported that short sleep is associated with an increased risk of weight gain or development of obesity and/or increased fat mass a few years later”

    From Sleep and metabolic function (2012) · cites this paper as [89]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Landhuis, C. E., Poulton, R., Welch, D., & Hancox, R. J.
Affiliations
University of Otago (NZ)
ORCID
Venue
Pediatrics
Publisher
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Published
2008-11-01
Volume
122
Issue
5
Pages
955-960
ISSN
  • 0031-4005 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-4275
DOI
10.1542/peds.2007-3521
OpenAlex
W1981369842
Cited by
237
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 20
FWCI
23.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • PEDIATRICS (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH-49414)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords
obesity risk, body mass index, long-term follow-up, sleep restriction, adult obesity, Dunedin birth cohort
MeSH terms
Adult, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Life Style, Male, New Zealand, Obesity, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Sleep, Social Class, Time Factors, Body Mass Index

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review