Association Between Workday Sleep Deprivation, Weekend Catch-Up Sleep, and Abdominal Adiposity Indicators: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Brazilian Female Fixed-Shift Workers

BACKGROUND: Sleep deprivation may contribute to increased abdominal adiposity. Although weekend catch-up sleep is associated with various health outcomes, its role in abdominal adiposity remains unclear, particularly among female fixed-shift workers. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association of workday sleep deprivation and weekend catch-up sleep with abdominal adiposity indicators in Brazilian female fixed-shift workers. METHODS: ). Workday sleep deprivation was defined as 2 h longer sleep on weekends vs. workdays. Associations were estimated using a Poisson regression with robust variance adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, reproductive, and occupational confounders. RESULTS: The mean age was 34.9 ± 9.9 years. The prevalence rates of abdominal adiposity were 45.3% for WC, 47.6% for WHtR, 26.2% for WWI and C-Index, and 28.7% for WC&BMI. Workday sleep deprivation and weekend catch-up sleep were reported by 27.1% and 43.3% of the participants, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, workday sleep deprivation was consistently associated with higher abdominal adiposity: Prevalence Ratio (PR) = 1.37 (95% CI: 1.10-1.69) for WC; 1.25 (95% CI: 1.02-1.53) for WHtR; 1.48 (95% CI: 1.07-2.04) for WWI; 1.43 (95% CI: 1.03-1.99) for C-Index, and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.17-2.16) for WC&BMI. Longer weekend catch-up sleep was positively associated with WHtR (PR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.03-1.49) and WC&BMI (PR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.04-1.85). CONCLUSIONS: Workday sleep deprivation was consistently linked to increased abdominal adiposity, whereas associations with longer weekend catch-up sleep were less consistent. These findings underscore the potential metabolic risk of insufficient sleep among female shift workers.