ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1629048
This article is part of the Research TopicMonitoring Nutritional Status and Physical Activity in Youths GloballyView all articles
Sleep Problems and Childhood Adiposity: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Third-Grade Students in Shanghai, China
Provisionally accepted
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China
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Objective: To investigate the association between sleep problems and overweight or obesity among third-grade primary school students in Shanghai, China.Methods: A total of 3,640 students aged 8-10 years were recruited in 2023 using a random cluster sampling method. Sleep problems were assessed using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). Anthropometric measurements, including weight, height, and waist circumference, were collected to calculate body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).The prevalence of overweight or obesity was 31.7%. The average sleep duration was 9.2 ± 0.6 hours, and the mean total CSHQ score was 47.8 ± 7.5.Weekend sleep duration was negatively associated with BMI (β = -0.188, P < 0.01).Higher Sleep Disordered Breathing scores were positively associated with BMI (β = 0.246, P < 0.01) and WHtR (β = 0.005, P < 0.01), while higher Daytime Sleepiness scores were negatively associated with both BMI (β = -0.056, P < 0.01) and WHtR (β = -0.001, P < 0.05). Higher Sleep Duration scores were negatively associated with both BMI (β = -0.067, P < 0.05). In logistic regression models, Sleep Disordered Breathing was significantly associated with higher odds of both overweight/obesity (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.13-1.70), and central obesity (OR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.11-1.68).These associations were more evident among boys.: Different dimensions of sleep problems showed varying associations with overweight/obesity and central obesity in children, with stronger associations observed among boys.
Keywords: Children, Sleep, Body Mass Index, Waist-to-height ratio, Obesity children, Obesity
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Zhai, Chu, Yang, Luo and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lijing Sun, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China
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