The following is a summary of “Association of rest-activity circadian rhythm with chronic respiratory diseases, a cross-section survey from NHANES 2011–2014,” published in the APRIL 2023 issue of Pulmonology by Gu, et al.

The 24-hour rest-activity characteristics in connection to health outcomes have been the subject of increasing studies. To fill the gap, researchers, for a study, creatively investigated the relationship between rest-activity circadian rhythm indices and chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs). Until now, few studies have focused on the function of the rest-activity circadian rhythm in CRDs.

The study comprised 7,412 individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014. The rest-activity circadian rhythm indices were separated into quartiles using accelerometer data to do logistic regression.

Emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma were less common among participants in the highest quartile of Relative amplitude (RA) than in the lowest. Compared to participants in the lowest quartile, those in the highest quartile of intraday variability (IV) had a greater prevalence of emphysema. The prevalence of emphysema was lower among participants in the highest quartile of the average activity of the most active continuous 10-hour period (M10) than among those in the lowest quartile. Participants in the highest quartile of the least active continuous 5-h period (L5) average activity and L5 start time also had a greater prevalence of asthma than those in the lowest quartile.

The study showed that a higher prevalence of CRDs was linked to a disrupted rest-activity circadian rhythm in the general adult population of the US.

Reference: resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(23)00035-5/fulltext