Longitudinal associations between endogenous melatonin production and reported sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The study objective was to assess longitudinal associations between melatonin secretion and reported sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood.

METHODS

In the frame of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study, 24-hour melatonin secretion and average daily sleep duration were determined once during childhood (4-< 11 years), adolescence (11-<16 years) and early adulthood (16-19 years) in 52 participants (23 males/29 females) aged 4-19 years. The associations between (1) melatonin secretion and sleep duration in childhood (cross-sectional); (2) melatonin secretion in childhood and sleep duration in early adulthood (prospective), and (3) changes in melatonin secretion and concurrent changes in sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood (concurrent) were analyzed.

RESULTS

Melatonin secretion was associated with sleep duration in childhood (cross-sectional, 3.5 min/day/10 μg 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate (6-OHMS)/day, p = 0.009) and tended to predict sleep duration in early adulthood (prospective, 9.8 min/day/10 μg 6-OHMS/day, p = 0.09). An individual increase in melatonin secretion between childhood and early adulthood was associated with a concurrent increase in sleep duration (concurrent, 6.9 min/day/10 μg 6-OHMS/day, p = 0.046).

CONCLUSION

Our observational data suggest that pineal production of melatonin in childhood is correlated with alterations in sleep duration until early adulthood. Nevertheless, this observational evidence needs to be verified in clinical studies.