Physical activity, sleep and risk of respiratory infections: A Swedish cohort study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 1; p. e0190270
• Main Authors: Ghilotti, Francesca, Pesonen, Ann-Sofie, Raposo, Sara E, Winell, Henric, Nyrén, Olof, Trolle Lagerros, Ylva, Plymoth, Amelie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adults; Allergies; Asthma; Biology and Life Sciences; Children; Cohort analysis; Colds; Consumer health information; Data analysis; Education; Energy metabolism; Epidemiology; Exercise; Habits; Health risks; Hypersensitivity; Immune response; Immune system; Incidence; Infections; Infectious diseases; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolism; Methods; People and Places; Physical activity; Population; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Regression models; Research and Analysis Methods; Respiratory tract; Respiratory tract diseases; Respiratory tract infection; Sleep; Studies; Viral infections
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190270

Previous studies found higher levels of physical activity to be protective against infections and that short and long sleep negatively affects the immune response. However, these relationships remain debatable. We aimed to investigate if physical activity and sleep habits affect incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in a prospective cohort study.
A total of 2,038 adults aged 25-64 years served as a random sample of the gainfully employed population of an industrial town in Sweden. Physical activity and sleep habits were estimated through self-reported questionnaires. Physical activity was expressed as metabolic energy turnover hours per day. Sleep was assessed as number of hours slept per night and its perceived quality. URTI outcome was prospectively self-reported during a 9-month follow-up period. Associations of physical activity and sleep with URTI were estimated using hurdle regression models adjusted for potential confounders.
During 1,583 person-years 1,597 URTI occurred, resulting in an incidence of 1.01 infections/person-year (95% CI 0.96-1.06). The fitted regression models did not provide support for an association with physical activity or sleep habits. Factors positively associated with experiencing URTI were having children ≤ 6 years, female gender, higher education and treatment for allergy, asthma or lung cancer. Having children ≤ 6 years and female gender were related to a higher number of URTI among those experiencing URTI.
We did not find any association between physical activity, sleep duration or sleep quality and the occurrence of upper respiratory tract infections in adult Swedish population.