Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration: A prospective cohort study
Windred DP · Burns AC · Lane JM · Saxena R · Rutter MK · Cain SW · Phillips AJK
SLEEP · 2024
What the research tells us
More regular sleep was associated with lower all-cause mortality. In models including regularity alone, the highest versus lowest quintile HR changed from .52 (95% CI .45–.60) with minimal adjustment to .70 (.59–.83) with full adjustment; including sleep duration yielded .74 (.62–.89). This motivates attention to regularity but does not establish the effect of changing sleep schedules.
Scope & interpretation
Observational design, one-week measurement, a relatively homogeneous middle/older-age sample and residual confounding constrain inference. Full adjustment also reduced the sample, so attenuation cannot be attributed entirely to covariates. Associations do not establish calibrated individual prediction.
Study at a glance
- POPULATION & SAMPLE
- UK Biobank accelerometry cohort with 1,859 deaths. The abstract/discussion gives 60,977 people, while the characteristics section gives 60,997; this discrepancy remains unresolved. Minimal/full models included 60,780/46,721.
- EXPOSURE / INTERVENTION / SUBJECT
- Seven-day accelerometer estimates of sleep regularity and duration, grouped into quintiles and modelled separately and together.
- OUTCOMES
- All-cause and cause-specific mortality, with model-specific denominators and adjustment sets.
- TIME FRAME
- Seven-day sleep measurement and mean mortality follow-up of 6.30 years.
Editorial & review record
Record for v1.0 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Scientific review
Not yet scientifically reviewed
Editorial note
Under the editorial responsibility of the TAP Editorial Team, this publication used AI assistance for content organization and editing. Scientific review is recorded separately on this page.
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How responsibilities and review are recorded ↗Scope of this reading note
Full-text sample, regularity definition, models, mortality results and limitations. Total-sample discrepancies, covariate missingness and all supplements remain to be checked.
- Study funding
- A. J. K. Phillips and S. W. Cain disclosed Delos and Versalux research support; Cain also disclosed Beacon Lighting support. All public funding awards have not been fully checked.
- Competing interests
- Phillips and Cain disclosed cofounder/management relationships with Circadian Health Innovations; Cain also disclosed Dyson consulting.
Project support
Founded and supported by Resilio.
Revision history
- · v1.0
Added regularity/mortality evidence with separate model samples, adjustment estimates and the unresolved total-sample discrepancy.