Short night-time sleep duration is associated with thyroid nodules: A community-based survey from Guangzhou, China

ABSTRACT

Background

Sleep plays a critical role in maintaining human health. This study aimed to explore the association between sleep status and thyroid nodules.

Methods

A total of 2414 individuals aged 18 or older with euthyroidism were enrolled in this community-based survey. Sleep status was self-reported. Thyroid ultrasonography was performed to measure nodules. Multiple logistic analyses were applied to adjust for confounding factors.

Results

The percentages of thyroid nodules among individuals who slept <5 hours, 5–8 hours, and >8 hours per night were 57.79% (115/199), 44.19% (833/1885) and 42.73% (141/330), respectively (p = 0.001). Individuals who slept <5 hours per night had a significantly higher percentage of thyroid nodules than those who slept 5–8 hours per night (57.79% vs. 44.19%, p = 0.001) or >8 hours per night (57.79% vs. 42.73%, P < 0.001). However, no similar result was shown between individuals who slept >8 hours and 5–8 hours per night (42.73% vs. 44.19%, p = 0.621). Multiple logistic analysis showed that a sleep duration of <5 hours per night was significantly associated with thyroid nodules (odds ratio (OR) 1.643, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.084–2.490, p = 0.019) when compared to a sleep duration of >8 hours per night. However, a sleep duration of <5 hours per night was not associated with thyroid nodules compared to a sleep duration of 5–8 hours (OR 1.294, 95% CI 0.918–1.824, p = 0.141). Similarly, no significant differences were seen among sleep duration per day, time of falling asleep, habit of daytime napping or thyroid nodules in multiple logistic analyses (all p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Short nighttime sleep duration was associated with thyroid nodules in our community-based population. Screening for thyroid nodules among these individuals is recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep duration
• sleep status
• thyroid nodules
• euthyroidism
• community population

Declaration of funding

This project was supported by the Research Fund for Public Welfare from the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (Grant No. 201,402,005), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81,902,724), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant (Grant No. 2019M653230), 5010 Project of Sun Yat-sen University Clinical Medicine Research (Grant No. 2,019,004), Clinical Training Project of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital Yat-sen University (Grant No. SYS-C-201904), Thyroid Young Doctor Research Project of Beijing Bai-qiu-en Public Welfare Foundation, and Guang Dong Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases (2020B1111170009).

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

Yuerong Yan and Xiaoyi Wang contributed equally to this work. Yuerong Yan performed the statistical analyses and wrote the final version of the manuscript. Xiaoyi Wang and Muchao Wu collected the data. Hongshi Wu and Feng Li participated in the data collection. Caixia Chen, Xiaohui Li and Rongxue Yang assisted with the data interpretation. Mingtong Xu and Li Yan both conceived of the project. Muchao Wu and Mingtong Xu helped to modify the manuscript together. All authors approved of the final version of the manuscript.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2022.2139485.