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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Sleep Med Rev. 2007 Apr 17;11(3):163–178. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2007.01.002

Table 3.

Summary of findings from studies examining the association between sleep and body mass index (BMI) in adults.

Authors Date of study BMI range Results Country
Vioque et al, 2000 1994 Mean BMI was 26.3 kg/m2 and 16.0% obese among men; mean BMI was 25.7 kg/m2 and 18.1% were obese among women. Prevalence of obesity decreases with increasing sleep duration. Prevalence Odds Ratios adjusted for sex, age & population size:
≤6h/day: 1.00
7h/day: 0.70 (95% CI 0.48-1.01)
8h/day: 0.59 (95% CI 0.41-0.84)
≥9h/day: 0.47 (95% CI: 0.30-0.74)
Spain
Shigeta et al, 2001 1998-1999 Mean BMI was 23.4 (SD 3.0) kg/m2 Odds ratio for obesity for sleeping <6 h/night: 1.98 (95% CI 1.03-3.82) versus sleeping 6 or more hours. Japan
Kripke et al, 2002 1982 not reported A negative association between BMI & sleep in men; a U-shaped association in women. US, Cancer Prevention II Study
Taheri et al, 2004 1995 BMI Quartiles:
25th = 26.2 kg/m2, 50th = 29.7 kg/m2, 75th = 34.7 kg/m2
Average time in bed was associated with BMI in a U-shaped manner where lowest mean BMI was associated with 7.7 h/night. US
Patel et al, 2004 1986-2002 not reported Sleep duration was associated with BMI in a U-shaped manner where the lowest mean BMI was among those sleeping 7-8 h/night. US (Nurses Health Study)
Cournot et al, 2004 1996 9.8% were obese Among women, mean BMI was higher for those reporting 6 hours or less sleep per night versus those reporting more than 6 hours (24.4 vs. 23.4 kg/m2). This difference was not observed among men. France (VISAT study)
Vorona et al, 2005 not reported Mean BMI was 30 kg/m2 (SD 6) Mean total sleep time was significantly shorter in the obese group relative to normal weight. The overweight and severely obese group did not differ from normal weight. US
Singh et al, 2005 not reported Mean BMI was 27.2 kg/m2, 24.% obese. Odds ratio for obesity was 1.7 (95% Ci 1.3-2.3) for < 5 h sleep/night and 1.4 (95% CI 1.1-1.8) for 5-6 h sleep/night relative to 7-8 h sleep/night US
Gangwisch et al, 2005 1982-1992 not reported Cross-sectional analysis of sleep and obesity risk among 32-49 year olds: OR 2.35 (95% CI 1.36-4.05) for 2-4 h/night; OR 1.60 (95% CI 1.12-2.29) for 5 h/night; OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.01-1.60) for 6 h/night relative to 7 h/night. US
Hasler et al, 2004 1978-1999 Mean BMI was 21.2 (SD 2.5) kg/m2 in 1979 and 23.3 (SD 3.8) kg/m2 in 1999. Prospective Study. Longitudinal analysis resulted in an odds ratio of 0.50 for sleep duration predicting obesity. Switzerland
Patel et al, 2006 1986-2002 Mean BMI ranged from 24.9 (SD 4.5) to 26.1 (SD 5.5) depending on sleep duration group Prospecive Study. Those who slept ≤ 5 hours gained 1.14 kg (95% CI: 0.49, 1.79) and those sleeping 6 hours gained 0.71 kg (95% CI: 0.41, 1.00) more than those sleeping 7 hours adjusting for age and baseline BMI. US
Kohatsu et al, 2006 1999-2004 29.51 (SD 5.79) Cross-sectional analysis indicated sleep duration was negatively associated with BMI (Beta = −0.42; 95% CI: −0.77 to −0.07) after adjustment for covariates. Rural US