Association between self-reported sleep duration and dietary quality in Mexican school-aged children

Short sleep duration has been associated with poor diet quality in school-aged children in multiple populations. However, investigations of sleep and dietary quality in Mexican school-aged children are scarce. The main objective of this work was to assess the association between sleep duration and dietary quality in Mexican school-aged children stratified by sex. The data were collected from 373 (138 girls and 235 boys) elementary school children aged 6–12 years in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Surveys collected information on general demographic characteristics and self-reported sleep duration. Diet was assessed with 24-h recalls, and dietary quality was calculated by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015). Results indicated that overall mean sleep duration was 8.23 ± 1.06 h. From the total sample, 6.7% slept ≤6 h (not recommended), 55.8% 7–8 h (may be appropriate), and 37.5% ≥ 9 h (recommended). Average total HEI-2015 score was 64.6 (out of possible 100), with boys having lower HEI-2015 scores than girls (57.7 vs 69.4). Moreover, girls and boys with shorter sleep duration (≤6 h compared to ≥ 9 h) had lower HEI-2015 scores (−1.03 [95% CI -2.74, −0.47; p