Abstract
Sleep deprivation and low sleep quality are widespread among adolescents, and associate with obesity risk. Plausible mediators include diet and physical activity. Another potential interrelated pathway, as yet unexplored in adolescents, could involve epigenetic modification of metabolism genes. Methods: In a cohort of 351 Mexico City adolescents (47% male; mean [SD] age = 14 [2] years), 7-day actigraphy was used to assess average sleep duration, sleep fragmentation, and movement index. DNA isolated from blood leukocytes was bisulfite-converted, amplified, and pyrosequenced at four candidate regions. Linear mixed models evaluated sex-stratified associations between sleep characteristics (split into quartiles [Q]) and DNA methylation of each region, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: Mean sleep duration was 8.5 [0.8] hours for boys and 8.7 [1] hours for girls. There were sex-specific associations between sleep duration and LINE-1 (long interspersed nuclear element) methylation. Boys with longer sleep duration (Q4) had lower LINE-1 methylation than boys in the 3rd quartile reference category, while girls with both longer and shorter sleep duration had higher LINE-1 methylation compared to Q3. Longer sleep duration was associated with higher H19 methylation among girls (comparing highest to third quartile, -0.9% [-2.2, 0.5]; p, trend = 0.047). Sleep fragmentation was inversely associated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARA) methylation among girls (comparing highest to lowest fragmentation quartile, 0.9% [0.1 to 1.8]). Girls also showed an inverse association between sleep fragmentation and hydroxysteroid (11-beta) dehydrogenase 2 (HSD11B2; Q4 to Q1, 0.6% [-1.2%, 0%]). Conclusions: Sleep duration and fragmentation in adolescents show sex-specific associations with leukocyte DNA methylation patterns of metabolism genes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | zsz121 |
| Journal | Sleep |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 6 2019 |
Funding
E.C.J. reports support from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant 5T32HL110952-05 during the conduct of the study. R.D.C. reports grants from Foundation for the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study; his institution and collaborators have received grant support from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation; grant support from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; financial and non-financial support from Michigan Medicine, other from International Pediatric Sleep Association, personal fees and non-financial support from American Academy of Sleep Medicine, personal fees and non-financial support from American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, personal fees from UpToDate, personal fees from Cambridge University Press, and non-financial support from Association of Professional Sleep Societies, all outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest statement. R.D.C. developed questionnaires for childhood sleep problems (PSQ, PSQ-SRBD Scale), copyright owned by University of Michigan with royalties paid from Zansors, and patents or patents pending, for technology, tools, or agents relevant to diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. None of the other authors has any disclosures to make.
Keywords
- actigraphy
- cardiometabolic
- epigenetics
- genes
- metabolism
- sleep quality
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
