Circadian rhythms and endogenous melatonin in childhood in relation to growth and obesity

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Subjects were about 600 preschoolers and 2,500 elementary school students. Information related to children’s height, weight, birth weight and lifestyles including sleep, light exposure at night, diet, physical activity, behavior problems, the time in front of screens, passive smoking, and mother’s anthropometric and psychological characteristics was obtained from parent or self -administered questionnaires. At the same time, parents provided their children’s first-void morning urine for measurements of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin. Among some children, overweight and metabolic syndrome were diagnosed by health checkup. We assessed the association of sex, age, body mass, sex steroid hormones, and lifestyle factors with the levels of melatonin in children. We also aimed to investigate whether endogenous melatonin was associated with the parameters of sleep and behavioral problems.