Sleep duration change among adolescents in Canada: Examining the impact of COVID-19 in worsening inequity

The purpose of this study was to assess if adolescent sub-populations in Canada (i.e., based on race/ethnicity, sex/gender, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity groups) experienced a larger change in sleep duration and guideline adherence between 2019 and 2020 (pre-pandemic) and the 2020–2021 (mid-pandemic) school years. Longitudinally linked data from 2019 to 2020 (pre-pandemic) and 2020–2021 (mid-pandemic) of a prospective cohort study of secondary school students (M = 14.2, SD = 1.3 years, N = 8209) in Canada were used for analyses. Regression modelling tested the main effects of race/ethnicity, sex/gender, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity on changes in sleep duration as well as adherence to Canada's 24-h Movement Guidelines for sleep (8–10 h/night). Interactions between identity variables (race/ethnicity or sex/gender) and other main effect variables were subsequently tested. Females gained more sleep (4.5 [1.5, 7.5] min/day more) and increased guideline adherence (AOR = 1.16 [1.04, 1.30] than males on average. Asian race/ethnic identity was associated with less sleep gain than White identity −10.1 [-19.4, −0.8], but not guideline adherence. Individuals in large urban areas gained less sleep and adhered less to guidelines than individuals from any other level of urbanicity (−21.4 [-38.5, −4.2] to −15.5 [-30.7, −0.2] min/day). Higher individual SES scores were associated with greater sleep gain (linear trend: 11.16 [1.2–21.1]). The discrepancies in sleep gain and guideline adherence between males and females were significantly modified by race/ethnicity and urbanicity. Increases in sleep duration may be one of the few benefits to adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic but were not equally distributed across sub-populations. Efforts to promote better sleep adherence may need to account for sex/gender differences, especially in less urbanized areas and certain racial/ethnic groups. •Adolescent sleep changes during 2020 school year were compared by sociodemographics.•Females gained on average 5 more minutes/day of sleep than males.•Asian adolescents gained 10 less minutes of sleep than White adolescents.•Sex differences were smaller among Asian and urban dwelling adolescents.•Adolescents in large urban areas gained less sleep overall.