Sleep duration and risk of diabetes in middle-aged and older men: prospective results from the Massachusetts male aging study

Sleep duration and risk of diabetes in middle-aged and older men: prospective results from the Massachusetts male aging study Pages 598-598 A.B. Araujo, H.K. Yaggi, J.B. McKinlay Close Preview Purchase PDF (45 K) | Related Articles AbstractAbstract Purpose Physiologic studies indicate a direct link between sleep restriction and impaired glucose metabolism. The effect of habitual sleep deprivation on the development of overt clinical diabetes is unclear. Our objective is to determine whether short sleep duration is a risk factor for incident diabetes in a cohort study of men. Methods Data were obtained from a population-based prospective cohort of men (aged 40–70 years) from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. Participants without clinical diabetes at baseline (1987–1989) were followed until 2004 for self-reported diagnosis of diabetes. Person-time was accumulated from baseline to year of diagnosis, last contact, or end of study. Self-reported average number of hours of sleep per night (past week) was grouped into five categories: ≤5, 6, 7, 8, and >8 hours sleep per night. We computed incidence rates (IR) and relative risks (RR) (reference group: 7 hours per night) for the development of diabetes in each sleep duration category. Multivariate analysis was performed using Poisson regression. Results Among men in the at-risk sample (n = 1132), there were 90 cases of diabetes during 14,550 person-years of follow-up (crude IR = 618.6 per 100,000 person-years). Risk of diabetes was significantly elevated in men reporting ≤5 hours sleep (RR = 2.09; 95% confidence interval CI = 1.02, 4.29) and >8 hours sleep (RR = 3.49; 95% CI = 1.70, 7.17) when adjusted for the confounding effects of age, hypertension, smoking, self-rated health, and education. Further adjustment for body composition (a potential causal mechanism) had little effect on estimated RRs. Conclusion Our data suggest that both short (≤5 hours) and long (>8 hours) sleep duration are independent risk factors for the development of diabetes in men. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanism whereby long sleep duration increases risk.