Weekend catch-up sleep may protect against hyperuricaemia in sleep-deprived women

For postmenopausal women with insufficient sleep, sleep recovery during the weekend appears to be associated with a decreased prevalence of hyperuricaemia, as reported in a study.

The study included 1,877 women who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VII. These women were divided into weekend catch-up sleep and nonweekend catch-up sleep (control) groups.

Compared with the control group, the weekend catch-up sleep group tended to be younger (mean age, 59.39 vs 65.21 years; p<0.001), had a lower proportion of women with hyperuricaemia, had higher rates of physical activity, and periodically drank at a significantly higher rate. Women in the catch-up sleep group were also less likely to have hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.

Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that weekend catch-up sleep was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of hyperuricaemia (odds ratio [OR], 0.758, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.576–0.997). This protective association was especially pronounced in the subgroup of women who had a weekend catch-up sleep of 1 to 2 hours (OR, 0.522, 95 percent CI, 0.323–0.845).

The present data suggest that catching up on sleep during the weekend and, possibly, maintaining good sleep duration may have favourable effects on hyperuricaemia, which is a risk factor for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. More studies are needed to establish the causal relationship between sleep recovery and hyperuricaemia in postmenopausal women.