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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Sleep Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1540182
Association between visceral adiposity index and sleep disorders among the U.S. adults: A cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted- 1Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Lishui Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lishui, China
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The visceral adiposity index (VAI) reliably measures body fat distribution and related dysfunctions. However, its association with sleep disorders among US adults remains unclear.Methods: This study analyzed cross-sectional data from the 2005-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for adults aged 18 and older. We used multivariable logistic regression to evaluate the association between VAI and sleep disorders and applied restricted cubic splines to assess potential non-linear relationships.Additionally, subgroup analyses by gender, age, and race were conducted to explore the VAI-sleep disorder association across different populations.Results: This study included 14,021 adults aged 18 +. In Model 1, adjusted for gender and age, each unit increase in VAI was associated with a 5% higher risk of sleep disorders (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 1.02-1.07). In Model 2, which adjusted for all potential confounders, each unit increase in VAI was linked to a 3% higher risk (OR = 1.03; 95% CI = 1.00-1.05). When treating VAI as a categorical variable, those in the highest quartile (Q4) had a 21% higher risk of sleep disorders compared to those in the lowest quartile (Q1) (OR = 1.21; 95% CI 1.03-1.41). Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a positive linear relationship between VAI and sleep disorder prevalence. Subgroup analysis found stronger associations in males and non-Hispanic white individuals.While causality cannot be confirmed, this cross-sectional study shows a significant positive linear association between higher VAI and the risk of sleep disorders among U.S. adults.
Keywords: Sleep Disorders, visceral adiposity index, Cross-sectional study, NHANES, Sleep
Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qiu, Liu, Wang, Ye, Wu, Li, Lin and Jin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yue Jin, Lishui Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lishui, China
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