Adolescent Sleep Duration and Cardiometabolic Risk in Adulthood: Evidence From Sibling Comparison Designs With Biomarker Data

Abstract

Objective: Despite the well-established link between sleep patterns and physical health, less is known about whether sleep duration during adolescence is related to physical health in adulthood. This study examines: (a) whether there is an association between sleep duration in adolescence and cardiometabolic risk in adulthood, and (b) whether this association differs by sex. Method: Using data from the National Longitudinal study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study estimates sibling fixed effects models to account for unobservable family-specific heterogeneity. This study investigates whether sleep duration in adolescence is associated with cardiometabolic risk in adulthood, independently of sleep duration in adulthood. Results: Conventional OLS regression models showed that, compared with individuals who slept 8-9 hr per night during adolescence, those who slept 6 or fewer hours had higher cardiometabolic risk in adulthood (about 13 years later). This was the case for both females and males. Controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity, however, substantially attenuated the association among females, rendering it statistically insignificant. The association for males was robust to controlling for sibling fixed effects. This study also found that the observed association for males is not explained by sleep duration in adulthood. Conclusions: Adolescent sleep duration is associated with cardiometabolic risk in adulthood among males, but not females. A life course approach should be adopted in interventions aiming to reduce cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In particular, this study suggests that a fruitful approach to preventing cardiovascular issues in adulthood includes public health interventions that promote healthy sleeping patterns during adolescence.