The association between sleep and early pubertal development in Chinese children: a school population-based cross-sectional study

Jingyi Tang; Tingting Yu; Yanrui Jiang; Peng Xue; Huijun Kong; Cuilan Lin; Shijian Liu; Ying Tian

doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1259172

The association between sleep and early pubertal development in Chinese children: a school population-based cross-sectional study

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Nov 23:14:1259172. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1259172. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jingyi Tang^#^{1

2}, Tingting Yu^#^{1

2}, Yanrui Jiang³, Peng Xue^{1

2}, Huijun Kong⁴, Cuilan Lin⁵, Shijian Liu^{1

2}, Ying Tian⁶

Affiliations

¹ Hainan Branch, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sanya, China.
² School of Public Health, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Qu Fu People's Hospital, Qufu, Shandong, China.
⁵ BoAi Hospital of Zhongshan, Southern Medical University, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.
⁶ Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: There is an increasing tendency toward early pubertal development, and sleep might be related to pubertal onset. We aimed to investigate the association of sleep duration and bedtime with early pubertal development.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 8,007 children (53.6% boys) from Qufu city, Shandong province and Zhongshan city, Guangdong province, China. Data on sleep duration and bedtime were obtained by questionnaire. Early pubertal development was the primary outcome and it was evaluated by the pediatrician according to Tanner staging. Logistic regression models were used to separately examine the association between sleep duration or bedtime and early pubertal development, controlling body mass index (BMI), dietary pattern, soft drink, feeding pattern and mother's BMI.

Results: In boys, short sleep duration was strongly related to early pubertal development [OR (95%CI): 4.26 (1.30, 13.94)], and this association was intensified after adjusted BMI, dietary pattern, soft drink, feeding pattern and mother's BMI. In girls, OR (95%CI) was 1.62 (1.04, 2.51), and increased after controlling BMI. Bedtime was associated with early pubertal development on weekdays [OR (95%CI): 6.39 (1.54, 26.45) in boys and 1.93 (1.23, 3.05) in girls], but not on weekends [OR (95%CI): 2.49 (0.61, 10.21) in boys; 1.31 (0.76, 2.25) in girls].

Conclusion: This study underscores the positive association between the risk of early pubertal development and insufficient sleep duration and late bedtime.

Keywords: association; children; early pubertal development; school; sleep.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Body Mass Index
Child
China / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Sleep Deprivation*
Sleep*

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 81872637 and 82173534], Project of “Unveiling the Top” for Sanya Women and Children Hospital [SYFY-JBGS-202201], Zhongshan City Social Welfare Science and Technology Research Project [2019B1017], and Medical and Industrial Cross Research Foundation from Shanghai Jiao Tong University [YG2019QNA05].