Association between overweight, obesity and sleep duration and related lifestyle behaviors is gender and educational stages dependent among children and adolescents aged 6-17 years: a cross-sectional study in Henan

Background To investigate the associations between overweight, obesity and sleep duration and related lifestyle behaviors in children and adolescents at different gender and educational stages. Methods A cross-sectional study comprising 18723 children and adolescents with a stratified cluster sampling method of Henan Province was conducted in 2019. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect the information about demographic characteristics as well as sleep and lifestyle behaviors. Anthropometric measurements (height and weight) were taken and body mass index was computered as an indicator of overweight and obesity. The Chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance and multiple logistic regression were used to data analysis. Results Among the respondents, 12657(67.6%) were with normal weight, 3711(19.8%) were overweight and 2355(12.6%) were obesity. The average age of the participants was 12.6 years old. The proportion of overweight and obesity in the 10191 boys was 18.7% and 14.2% respectively. The proportion of overweight and obesity in the 8532 girls was 21.2% and 10.6% respectively. In trend analyses, sleep duration at different gender found with the decreased of the sleep duration, the proportions of overweight/obesity in boys and girls were gradually increased (P trend <0.05). In the adjusted logistic regression models, the results showed stratified by gender, compared with the recommended sleep duration group, students with very short sleep duration and short sleep duration showed an increased OR adj of 2.56 and 2.13 in boys, 2.34 and 2.09 in girls respectively. According to different educational stages, those in very short sleep duration and short sleep duration showed an increased OR adj of 2.15 and 1.69 in primary school, 2.26 and 1.58 in middle school, 2.23 and 1.51 in high school respectively. Conclusions Children and adolescents with very short sleep duration and short sleep duration may increase the risk of overweight/obesity, the association differed based on the gender-specific and educational stages-specific. Gender and educational stages should be regarded as specific characteristics for the effects on overweight/obesity in Henan Province.