Relação entre o consumo de cafeína e a duração do sono em adolescentes do ensino fundamental e médio de Salvador, Bahia

Abstract

The objective of this work is to investigate whether there is an association between caffeine consumption and hours of sleep among adolescents in primary and secondary education in the city of Salvador-Bahia. Cross-sectional study, 522 students (10-19 years old) were evaluated between 2015-2018. The 24-hour Food Recall analyzed caffeine consumption, while hours of sleep were obtained through self-administered questionnaires. Analyzes included measures of central tendency and absolute and relative frequencies, with statistical comparisons between caffeine consumption groups using T-test, Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney (p<0.05). The participants, with an average age of 13 years, were predominantly female (65.7%), studying in the afternoon (60.3%) and in elementary school (98.9%). About 60.3% consumed caffeine (mean: 11.5 mg/day), with a mean (SD) sleep of 500 (110) minutes. The analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in average sleep time or sleep adequacy when comparing groups according to caffeine consumption, with afternoon shifts predominating in consumption. Although caffeine consumption did not show any difference in average sleep duration or sleep adequacy between the groups and those who did not consume this substance, frequent caffeine consumption was identified in the majority of the studied population. It was also observed that most of these children report few hours of sleep at night. This may indicate a complexity in the relationship between caffeine consumption and sleep patterns that was not captured by this study and may suggest that other factors are more strongly influencing sleep habits.