Association Between Workday Sleep Deprivation, Weekend Catch-Up Sleep, and Abdominal Adiposity Indicators: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Brazilian Female Fixed-Shift Workers.

BACKGROUND

Sleep deprivation may contribute to increased abdominal adiposity. Although weekend catch-up sleep is associated with various health outcomes, its role in abdominal adiposity remains unclear, particularly among female fixed-shift workers. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association of workday sleep deprivation and weekend catch-up sleep with abdominal adiposity indicators in Brazilian female fixed-shift workers.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 450 female fixed-shift workers aged ≥ 18 years from a large industrial group in Southern Brazil. Abdominal adiposity indicators linked to cardiovascular risk were assessed: waist circumference (WC ≥ 88 cm), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR > 0.5), weight-to-waist index (WWI ≥ 11), conicity index (C-Index ≥ 1.27), and WC & Body Mass Index (combined WC ≥ 88 cm and BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Workday sleep deprivation was defined as <6 h (h) of sleep on workdays, and weekend catch-up sleep (absolute difference between weekend and workday sleep duration) was defined as >2 h longer sleep on weekends vs. workdays. Associations were estimated using a Poisson regression with robust variance adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, reproductive, and occupational confounders.

RESULTS

The mean age was 34.9 ± 9.9 years. The prevalence rates of abdominal adiposity were 45.3% for WC, 47.6% for WHtR, 26.2% for WWI and C-Index, and 28.7% for WC&BMI. Workday sleep deprivation and weekend catch-up sleep were reported by 27.1% and 43.3% of the participants, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, workday sleep deprivation was consistently associated with higher abdominal adiposity: Prevalence Ratio (PR) = 1.37 (95% CI: 1.10-1.69) for WC; 1.25 (95% CI: 1.02-1.53) for WHtR; 1.48 (95% CI: 1.07-2.04) for WWI; 1.43 (95% CI: 1.03-1.99) for C-Index, and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.17-2.16) for WC&BMI. Longer weekend catch-up sleep was positively associated with WHtR (PR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.03-1.49) and WC&BMI (PR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.04-1.85).

CONCLUSIONS

Workday sleep deprivation was consistently linked to increased abdominal adiposity, whereas associations with longer weekend catch-up sleep were less consistent. These findings underscore the potential metabolic risk of insufficient sleep among female shift workers.