Weekend catch-up sleep, physical activity and childhood obesity

Introduction: This study aimed to measure the weekend catch-up patterns of sleep and physical activity over a 2-year period, and to examine the prospective associations between these weekend patterns and obesity in Chinese children.

Methods: Prospective data from 599 Chinese children (54% boys) in the Understand Children’s Activity and Nutrition (UCAN) cohort study were analyzed. Weekly patterns of obesogenic behaviors (physical activity and sleep duration) were assessed annually over a 2-year period. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time were determined by ActiGraph accelerometry. Data on sleep durations and sociodemographic factors were obtained from parental-reports in response to questionnaires. Weekend catch-up sleep and MVPA patterns were calculated and examined in relation to childhood obesity after controlling for sociodemographic variables and sedentary time.

Results: Every additional hour of average weekly sleep duration was associated with a 16% decrease in the odds of obesity (OR: 0.841, 95%CI: 0.709-0.999). After adjustment of average sleep duration, weekend sleep catch-up categories showed no association with obesity risk. Over a 2-year period, approximately half of the children demonstrated weekend catch-up MVPA. Weekend catch-up MVPA for less than 20 minutes (OR: 0.473, 95%CI: 0.258-0.867) or more than 20 minutes (OR: 0.505, 95%CI: 0.257-0.993) were both related to lower risk of obesity.

Conclusions: Weekend catch-up sleep did not ameliorate the risk of childhood obesity, whereas weekend catch-up MVPA did reduce that risk. More research is needed to explore the factors contributing to these obesogenic behavior patterns.