Objective: Postmenopausal women face significant risks for both sleep disorders and obesity. This study investigates the prospective connections between various sleep behaviors and the onset of obesity in this demographic, while also examining the potential role of blood biomarkers and plasma metabolites.
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Methods: The analysis included 68,419 non-obese postmenopausal women from the UK Biobank, with sleep behaviors assessed through questionnaires. Obesity diagnoses were recorded using ICD-10 codes. Cox proportional hazards models evaluated the associations, supplemented by exploratory analyses assessing the influence of blood biomarkers and metabolites.
Results: Over a median follow-up of 13.33 years, 1,146 cases of incident obesity were documented. The study found a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and obesity risk; both short sleep (≤6 hours, HR = 1.214) and long sleep (≥10 hours, HR = 1.654) were linked to heightened risk. Other significant independent risk factors included frequent insomnia (HR = 1.320), evening chronotype (HR = 1.224), and snoring (HR = 1.234). Exploratory analyses indicated minor associations with inflammation- and lipid-related biomarkers, but these should be considered as preliminary hypotheses.
Conclusion: Abnormal sleep duration, insomnia, evening preferences, and snoring correlate with increased obesity risk in postmenopausal women. While preliminary biomarker analyses provided insights into potential biological mechanisms, further research is necessary. Integrating sleep health into obesity prevention initiatives for this group is recommended.