7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Background. Obesity and short sleep duration are significant public health issues with evidence suggesting
these conditions are associated with premature mortality, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and
inflammation. In the United States, 37.9% of adults are classified as obese, having a body mass index (BMI)
of 30 kg/m2 or greater. Stratified by sex, 35.2% of men and 40.5% of women meet the BMI cut-point for
obesity. Similarly, curtailed sleep duration is commonplace, with an estimated 35.3% of adults in the United
States receiving less than the recommended 7 hours of sleep during a 24-hour period. In recent years, there
has been an increased interest in the potential link between obesity and short sleep duration due to: (1) the
apparent parallel increase in prevalence of both conditions over the past few decades; (2) their overlapping
association with cardiometabolic outcomes; and (3) the potential causal connection between the two health
issues. Research. The proposed investigation will seek to contribute to the development of a comprehensive
adiposity-sleep model, while laying the groundwork for a future program of research seeking to prevent and
treat adiposity and sleep-related cardiometabolic disease risk factors. The study proposed within this K-award
is intended to investigate four topics pertinent to the adiposity-sleep hypothesis: (1) the relationship between
adiposity and sleep duration; (2) sex-based differences in the relationship between adiposity and sleep
duration; (3) influence of adiposity indices and sleep duration on cardiometabolic outcomes; and (4) the role
of socioecological factors as effect modifiers in the relationship between adiposity indices, sleep, and
cardiometabolic outcomes. To address these aims, the proposed study will employ a large-scale survey
(n=1,000) to recruit 159 subjects (53 normal weight, 53 overweight, and 53 obese) to be assessed in two
phases. Phase 1, an in-lab study, will be used to gather objective adiposity indices (air displacement
plethysmography and anthropometrics) and cardiometabolic data (blood pressure, pulse wave velocity and
pulse wave analysis, and blood-based biomarker). Phase 2, a one-week, home-based study, will be used to
gather sleep-related data (home sleep testing/sleep apnea, actigraphy, sleep diaries). During Phase 2,
detailed demographic and socioecological data will be collected to contextualize hypothesized adiposity and
sleep-associated cardiometabolic disease risk factors. Collection and analyses of these data will provide
necessary information to customize future observational and intervention research. Training. Pedagogically,
the training plan for the K01 is comprised of the didactic training (coursework, seminars, symposia), mentoring
(directed research, readings, tutorials), and dissemination deliverables (publications, presentations, and
proposals) required to complete the proposed project and to initiate a pathway towards research
independence. This career development plan builds upon the applicant’s previous obesity and sleep health
research and couples these two independent health issues into an interconnected line of inquiry.