Association of weekend catch-up sleep with the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score: a hypothesis-generating study from US and Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

Abstract

Study Objectives: A proportion of the population sleeps longer on the weekends. We investigated a possible association between weekend catch-up sleep (WCUS) and a known index of later development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We tested for an association of WCUS and ASCVD risk scores in 2 existing datasets. Methods: We analyzed national data from the 2019-2021 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n =11,502) and the 2017-2020 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 2,135). WCUS duration from self-reported questionnaires was categorized as <= 0 hours, > 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours, and >2 hours. The ASCVD risk score estimating a 10-year risk of ASCVD events was categorized into low (< 7.5%), intermediate (7.5-20%), and high (>= 20%) groups. Results: WCUS (>2 hours) was inversely associated with the high ASCVD risk group in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (adjusted odds ratio = 0.19, 95% confidence interval: 0.08-0.45) but not in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The inverse association of WCUS (>2 hours) with the high ASCVD risk group was shown only in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, independent of weekday sleep duration (adjusted odds ratio = 0.20, 95% confidence interval: 0.07-0.51 for <6 hours; adjusted odds ratio = 0.17, 95% confidence interval: 0.07-0.39 for >= 6-8 hours; adjusted odds ratio = 0.13, 95% confidence interval: 0.03-0.63 for >= 8 hours). However, WCUS (>2 hours) showed no significant association with the high ASCVD risk group in weekday sleep duration subgroups. Conclusions: The apparent association between WCUS and ASCVD in an existing dataset underscores the need to investigate WCUS in prospective studies.