The Relationship between Breakfast and Sleep and Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Despite extensive research on the individual effects of breakfast and sleep on health outcomes, there has been limited investigation into their combined effects. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between breakfast-eating behavior and sleep timing on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. A total of 16,121 participants (6744 men and 9377 women) aged 19 years or older were selected from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2016–2018, 2021). We classified participants into four groups: early sleep + regular breakfast eaters (group 1), late sleep + regular breakfast eaters (group 2), early sleep + infrequent breakfast eaters (group 3), and late sleep + infrequent breakfast eaters (group 4). In men, group 4 had a lower prevalence of obesity than group 1 (OR 0.78, 95%CI 0.62–0.97), and groups 2, 3, and 4 had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) than group 1 (OR 1.43, 1.62, and 1.47, respectively). In women, group 4 had a lower prevalence of dyslipidemia than group 1 (OR 0.59, 95%CI 0.44–0.80), and group 2 had a higher prevalence of MetS than group 1 (OR 1.24, 95%CI 1.03–1.50). The combination of skipping breakfast and late sleep timing was associated with the higher prevalence of MetS particularly in men. Moreover, the relationship between breakfast and sleep timing on CVD risk factors differed by sex and age group.