Obesity Risk Was Associated with Alcohol Intake and Sleep Duration Among Korean Men: The 2016-2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Background/objectives: Excessive alcohol drinking and short sleep duration could be problematic in terms of obesity. This research investigated the risk of obesity according to alcohol consumption and sleep duration, using data from the 2016-2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES).

Methods: The health behavior survey on alcohol intake and sleep duration was conducted via self-reporting by participants. Height and weight were measured to calculate the body mass index (BMI), which was then used to assess obesity, defined as a BMI of ≥25 kg/m. Among a total of 39,738 participants from the 2016-2020 KNHANES, this study finally included 8271 Korean men aged ≥30 years, with 3467 classified as obese and 4804 as controls.

Results: Obesity risk was significantly increased with a short sleep duration of <7 h (vs. 7-<9 h, odds ratio [OR] = 1.28, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.15-1.43) or frequency of binge drinking of ≥1 time/week (vs. never, OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.17-1.65). Moreover, the risk of obesity was further increased to 1.52 (95% CI = 1.17-1.97) for those with both short sleep duration and frequent binge drinking.

Conclusions: The risk of obesity was elevated for frequent binge alcohol drinking with short sleep duration in Korean men.