Association between Sleep duration and Dyslipidemia in Premenopausal and Postmenopausal women

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is leading causes of death worldwide, and dyslipidemia—a major risk factor for CVD—varies by sex, age, and menopausal status. While some studies have explored the relationship between sleep duration and dyslipidemia, findings remain inconsistent, and most have not accounted for menopausal status. This study investigates the association between sleep duration—a menopause-related factor not yet clearly established as a determinant of dyslipidemia—and dyslipidemia in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2014-2022 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), including 10,115 women aged 40-64 years (4,428 premenopausal; 5,687 postmenopausal). Self-reported sleep duration was categorized as <6 hours, 6-7 hours, 7-8 hours (reference), and ≥8hours per day. The association between sleep duration and dyslipidemia and serum lipid levels, was assessed using multivariable logistic regression. A stratified analysis by menopausal status was performed, with both sleep duration and dyslipidemia analyzed as categorical variables. Results: Sleep duration was significantly associated with hypertriglyceridemia. In Model 1, adjusted for menopausal status, <6 hours (odds ratio [OR]: 1.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34-2.10) and ≥8 hours (OR: 1.40; 95% CI: 1.15-1.71) were linked to hypertriglyceridemia. In Model 2, adjusted for all covariates, these associations remained significant for <6 hours (OR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.13-1.79) and ≥8 hours (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.09-1.64). This trend persisted in subgroup analyses. Among premenopausal women, the OR for hypertriglyceridemia was 0.65 in the 7-8 hours group, while in postmenopausal women, the ORs for 6-7 hours and 7-8 hours were 0.74 (vs. <6 hours). Postmenopausal women had a higher risk of hyper-low-density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterolemia (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.39-2.07) and dyslipidemia (OR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.21-1.68). Conclusions: Postmenopausal women had a higher risk of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia, while extreme sleep durations were associated with hypertriglyceridemia in both groups. Maintaining optimal sleep and managing LDL cholesterol may help reduce CVD risk.