Associations between dietary inflammatory index and sleep problems among adults in the United States, NHANES 2005-2016

• Published in: Sleep health Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 273 - 280
• Main Authors: Kase, Bezawit E., Liu, Jihong, Wirth, Michael D., Shivappa, Nitin, Hebert, James R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-04-2021
• Subjects: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Dietary Inflammatory Index; Humans; Inflammation - epidemiology; NHANES; Nutrition; Nutrition Surveys; Sleep; Sleep duration; Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology; United States - epidemiology; Young Adult; United States; NHANES; Sleep; Nutrition; Dietary Inflammatory Index; Sleep duration
• ISSN: 2352-7218; 2352-7226
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2020.09.002

To examine the associations between Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores and sleep measures of sleep duration and self-reported sleep disturbance.
Cross-sectional study.
The United States.
Participants from the 2005-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) who were 20 years old or older (n = 30,121).
Sleep duration, classified as short (≤6 hours), long (≥9 hours) and recommended (6-9 hours) duration, and the presence of self-reported sleep disturbance were the outcome variables. The energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) was computed based on the dietary intake data using a single-day 24-hour dietary recall. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations.
After adjusting for confounders, participants in the highest quintile (most proinflammatory E-DII) had a 40% increase in the odds of short sleep duration compared to the lowest quintile (most anti-inflammatory E-DII)(ORquintile5vs1 = 1.40 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.21, 1.61]). The odds of short sleep duration was increased by 26% in quintile 4 compared to quintile 1 (OR quintile4vs1 = 1.26 [95% CI, 1.10, 1.43]). Similarly, the odds of long sleep duration was increased in higher E-DII quintiles (ORquintile5vs1 = 1.23 [95% CI, 1.03, 1.46] and ORquintile4vs1 = 1.24 [95% CI, 1.03, 1.49]). Participants in the highest E-DII quintile also were more likely to report sleep disturbances (ORquintile5vs1 = 1.14 [95% CI, 1.02, 1.27]).
Adults consuming proinflammatory diets were more likely to have short sleep duration, long sleep duration, and/or self-reported sleep disturbances. Future, especially longitudinal, studies need to examine the impact of anti-inflammatory diets in mitigating extreme sleep durations and sleep disturbances.