Does long sleep duration increase risk of metabolic syndrome in Azar cohort study population?

Background: We decided to assess the correlation between metabolic syndrome (MetS) risks, sleep and napping duration in Azar cohort population according to the increasing incidence of MetS in the world and inconsistence results about sleep duration and MetS. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, MetS and sleep habits of 14916 subjects (35-70 years old) who inhabited in Shabestar city were determined by ATPIII and Pittsburg questionnaire respectively. Inclusion criteria were subjects with 35-70 years old and living in Shabestar for at least 9 months of the year. Results: According to the results, age, living place, body mass index, hypnotic drug use, sleep and napping duration and TV time were the risk factors of MetS. In this regard, long sleep duration ( 9 h/24 h), napping (0.25-2 h/day), hypnotic drug use and watching TV (2 h/day) increased the risk of MetS by 1.18 (1.05-1.33), 1.16(1.07-1.26), 1.35(1.13-1.60), and 1.13 (1.04-1.23) respectively. Conclusion: According to these results, it appears that proper education for improvement of sleep habit is necessary to reduce incidence of MetS and its consequences. However, there is need for more longitudinal researches and using objective method of sleep habits evaluation for more precise results.