Sleep Duration and Oxidative Stress: The Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study

Our objective was to investigate the cross-sectional association between sleep duration and biomarkers of oxidative stress (glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), vitamin C, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC)) among police officers. Standardized techniques were used to analyze biomarkers in fasting blood specimens. Mean levels of biomarkers were compared across levels of sleep duration (0-4.9, 5.0-6.9, 7.0 hours) using ANOVA. Officers’ (women=44; men=69) mean age was 39.6 years. Positive trends were observed across sleep categories with mean levels of GSH and vitamin C only among women (p trend=0.156 and 0.022 respectively), with attenuation after risk-factor adjustment. Positive trends were observed for vitamin C among older officers (p trend=0.018) but not younger. No associations were observed between sleep duration and biomarkers among men. Longer sleep duration is associated with higher levels of vitamin C among policewomen and older officers. Additional studies are warranted.