Abstract

Background: Little observational studies have been conducted on the association between diet and sleep. We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the associations of dietary patterns with sleep duration in an Iranian population. Methods: This study was conducted on the baseline data of two population-based Iranian cohorts: the YaHS-TAMYS and Shahedieh studies. Dietary intakes were assessed in 10451 Yazdi people aged 20-75 years. Dietary habits were derived from answers to a food frequency questionnaire, and a factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify dietary patterns. The reported sleep duration was categorized as short (<6 h), normal (6-8 h) or long (>8 h). Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between dietary patterns and the odds of short and long sleep duration. Results: Four major dietary patterns were identified: 'healthy,' 'western,' 'traditional,' and 'high-carbohydrate, high-fat.' In the Shahedieh study, participants in the top quartile of the western dietary pattern had greater odds of short (<6 h) and long (>8 h) sleep duration (OR = 1.49; 95 CI: 1.17, 1.90; P trend <0.001 and OR = 1.46; 95 CI: 1.12, 1.90; P trend = 0.014, respectively) than those in the bottom quartile. Also, participants in the highest quartile of the high-carbohydrate, high-fat pattern had higher odds of long sleep duration compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR = 1.36; 95 CI: 1.05, 1.75; P trend = 0.005). Pooling the two studies revealed that the western dietary pattern was significantly associated with short sleep duration (OR = 1.31; 95 CI: 1.08, 1.59). Conclusions: The western dietary pattern might inversely be associated with sleep duration. Future prospective studies are recommended to confirm these results. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.