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

研究对象是大约600名学龄前儿童和2500名小学生。有关儿童身高、体重、出生体重和生活方式的信息，包括睡眠、夜间光照、饮食、体力活动、行为问题、屏幕前的时间、被动吸烟以及母亲的人体测量和心理特征，通过父母或自填问卷获得。与此同时，父母提供了他们孩子第一次排空的晨尿，用于测量6-硫氧基黑素。在一些儿童中，通过健康检查诊断出超重和代谢综合征。我们评估了性别、年龄、体重、性类固醇激素和生活方式因素与儿童褪黑激素水平的关系。我们还旨在调查内源性褪黑素是否与睡眠和行为问题的参数有关。

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.