The association between sleep duration and weight in treatment-seeking preschoolers with obesity

Objective: To examine the association between nocturnal sleep duration and weight and caloric intake outcomes among preschool-aged children who are obese and enrolled in a family-based weight management program. Methods: Forty-one preschool-aged children who were obese (BMI >= 95th percentile) and enrolled in a weight management program completed pre- and posttreatment assessments of body mass, caloric intake, and sleep. Separate linear regression analyses examined the relationship between nocturnal sleep duration and posttreatment body mass, index relative to age- and sex-linked norms (BMIz) and caloric intake. Results: After controlling for pretreatment BMIz, longer posttreatment nocturnal sleep was significantly associated with lower posttreatment BMIz (beta = -0.21, p = 0.02) and explained a significant proportion of unique variance in posttreatment BMIz (Delta R-2 = 0.04). Similarly, after controlling for pretreatment caloric intake, longer nocturnal sleep duration at posttreatment was significantly. associated with lower caloric intake at posttreatment (beta = -0.45, p = 0.003) and explained a significant proportion of unique variance in posttreatment caloric intake (Delta R-2 = 0.19). Conclusions: These findings extend the literature on the sleep, and weight relationship and suggest that adequate sleep may be an important element in interventions for preschoolers with obesity. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.