Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput co-authored a paper, “No relation between sleep duration and adiposity indicators in 9-36 months old children: the SKOT cohort,” that was recently published in Pediatric Obesity. The citation details below provide a summary of the findings from the paper.

Klingenberg L, Christensen LB, Hjorth MF, Zangenberg S, Chaput JP, Sjödin A, Mølgaard C, Michaelsen KF. No relation between sleep duration and adiposity indicators in 9-36 months old children: the SKOT cohort. Pediatr Obes. 2013 Feb;8(1):e14-8.

ABSTRACT: Background: Epidemiological studies in adults and children have repeatedly reported an association between short sleep duration and the risk of obesity. Studies using both objective measurements of sleep and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in children aged three are, however, lacking. Objective: The study aims to examine both the longitudinal and cross-sectional associations between sleep duration and adiposity indicators in children aged 3 and younger. Methods: On a cohort of 311 infants born at term, we used parent-reported sleep duration at 9 months, 18 months and 3 years of age, and accelerometer estimated nocturnal sleep duration at 3 years of age. Sleep duration at 9 and 18 months were used to predict adiposity at 3 years of age. Results: We found no associations between any of the adiposity indicators at 3 years of age and (i) parent-reported total sleep duration at 9 months, 18 months and 3 years, and (2) nocturnal sleep duration measured with accelerometry at 3 years of age. Multivariate adjustments were used in both approaches. Conclusion: Our results do not support the hypothesis that short sleep duration is associated with increased adiposity in this cohort of young Danish children.