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Topical Area: Dietary Patterns

Dietary Patterns (Poster Session)

(P14-075-23) Associations of Sleep Apnea Risk, Snoring, and Daytime Sleepiness With Future Diet Quality in the Bogalusa Heart Study Cohort

Sunday, July 23, 2023
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 75

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Kaitlin Potts, MPH, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    Brigham and Women's Hospital
    Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • JG

    Jeanette Gustat

    Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

  • LQ

    Lu Qi, MD, PhD

    Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
    New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

  • MW

    Maeve Wallace

    Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

  • LB

    Lydia Bazzano, MD, PhD, MPH

    Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
    New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Disclosure(s):
Kaitlin Potts, MPH, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association of sleep apnea symptoms on future diet quality in the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS) cohort.

Methods: Sleep apnea symptoms were measured with the Berlin Questionnaire among 445 BHS participants whose diet was measured after a mean follow-up of 5.8 years (mean age 43.5 years, 34% male, 29% Black persons). A culturally-specific, validated food frequency questionnaire assessed usual food intake and diet quality was measured with dietary patterns. Adjusted mean differences in dietary patterns by sleep apnea risk, excessive snoring, and daytime sleepiness were estimated with multivariable linear regression models using generalized estimating equations. Models accounted for multi-level socioeconomic factors, lifestyle and health characteristics including body mass index, physical activity, and depressive symptoms.

Results: Nearly 40% of participants had high sleep apnea risk at baseline. After adjusting for potential confounders, those with high (vs. low) sleep apnea risk had lower diet quality at follow-up: mean difference in Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) 2010 (95% CI): -2.3 (-3.8, -0.8). There was no association with excessive snoring, but daytime sleepiness was inversely associated with follow-up measures of AHEI-2010 and Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015. Those with excessive sleepiness had worse diet quality than those without, with score differences of -4.0 (95% CI: -5.6, -2.5) and -3.8 (95% CI: -5.5, -2.1) on AHEI and HEI, respectively. These associations attenuated slightly, but remained statistically significant, after adjustment for diet quality measured prior to baseline. High sleep apnea risk was associated with worse scores on the whole grains and sugar sweetened beverage components of AHEI, and excessive sleepiness was associated with worse scores for fruits and vegetables, red and processed meats, and sodium.

Conclusions: High sleep apnea risk and excess sleepiness associated with lower future diet quality in a semi-rural, Black and White cohort. If replicated, these findings suggest that sleep may play a role in diet quality and individuals with sleep apnea or daytime sleepiness may benefit from dietary interventions.

Funding Sources: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health