Sleep Disturbance, Sleep Duration, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies and Experimental Sleep Deprivation.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies and experimental trials
PubMed 26140821 · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.05.014
What was done
A systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis evaluated the association between sleep metrics (sleep disturbance, sleep duration, and experimental sleep deprivation or restriction) and circulating inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-6, and TNFα) in adult humans across 72 studies (n > 50,000).
What was found
Sleep disturbance was associated with higher CRP (ES = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.19) and IL-6 (ES = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.31). Extreme long sleep duration was associated with higher CRP (ES = 0.17; 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.34) and IL-6 (ES = 0.11; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.20). Shorter sleep duration was associated with higher CRP (ES = 0.09; 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.17) but not IL-6 (ES = 0.03; 95% CI: -0.09 to 0.14). TNFα was not associated with disturbance or duration. Neither experimental sleep deprivation nor restriction showed a significant association with CRP, IL-6, or TNFα.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis demonstrates that chronic sleep disturbance and long sleep duration track with markers of systemic inflammation in observational cohorts, providing an empirical link between poor sleep patterns and inflammatory disease risk.
Limits
The effect sizes for observational associations were modest, and study heterogeneity was present. Experimental sleep deprivation did not replicate the inflammatory elevations seen observationally, leaving the direction of causality and chronic mechanisms unresolved.
Cited by
- supports Sleep deprivation increases levels of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6).