# Long-term trajectories of subjectively- and polysomnographically-assessed sleep patterns as predictors of neuroendocrine dysfunction and weight gain in adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $464,074

## Abstract

Project Summary
The prevalence of obesity has rapidly increased in the US since the late 1970s, which has
serious population health and economic ramifications. Over this same period, the US population
has also exhibited shorter average sleep duration and increased prevalence of sleep-disruptive
disorders. The concomitant timing of these trends suggests that they may be related—a theory
supported by several observational and short-term experimental studies indicating that short
sleep promotes weight gain and obesity.
However, there is no consensus regarding the impact of sleep on body habitus among adults
because extant research has produced a range of findings (e.g., linear, U-shaped, or null
associations). There are also unexplored questions about the relative importance of sleep
duration versus sleep quality with respect to weight gain and obesity. Furthermore, there is
scant longitudinal evidence that links short or disrupted sleep to long-term alterations in body
habitus through specific physiological mechanisms (e.g., appetite-regulating hormones). To
address these limitations, our investigation will address the following study aims:
 Aim 1: Comprehensively characterize the longitudinal associations of sleep duration and
 sleep quality with body habitus trajectories.
 Aim 2: Determine how the longitudinal associations between sleep parameters and body
 habitus trajectories characterized in the investigations of Aim 1 are mediated by
 several neuroendocrine hormones.
To achieve these aims, we will conduct sophisticated longitudinal analyses of data from the
population-based Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study (WSCS). The WSCS has collected self-
reported and objective measures of sleep duration, sleep quality, and body habitus on >1,100
adult subjects for nearly three decades. In addition, we will assay stored blood from WSCS
participants—collected at the time participants had sleep and body habitus assessments. These
assays will produce longitudinal neuroendocrine hormone data, providing us with an
unparalleled data resource to examine the long-term associations among sleep, neuroendocrine
hormones and body habitus.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928495
- **Project number:** 5R01HL132274-04
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric N Reither
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $464,074
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928495

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928495, Long-term trajectories of subjectively- and polysomnographically-assessed sleep patterns as predictors of neuroendocrine dysfunction and weight gain in adults (5R01HL132274-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928495. Licensed CC0.

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