Associations of Volatile Organic Chemicals With Sleep Disorders and Sleep Duration in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), a common environment pollutant, have been associated with some autoimmune diseases, but it has not been clarified if VOC exposure affects sleep, and if so, which VOCs affect sleep. Our study aimed to evaluate the relationship of individual VOCs with sleep disorders and sleep duration. Our primary analytical techniques were logistic regression models and multinomial logistic regression models. After a rigorous verification, specific VOCs N-acetyl-S-(2-carboxyethyl)-L-cysteine (CEMA), mandelic acid (MA), and phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) showed a statistically significant association with sleep disorders in female individuals in our study. We also determined that N-acetyl-S-(benzyl)-L-cysteine (SBMA), 2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA), N-acetyl-S-(3,4-dihydroxybutyl)-L-cysteine (DHBMA), N-acetyl-S-(2-hydroxypropyl)-L-cysteine (2HPMA), and N-acetyl-S-(3-hydroxypropyl)-L-cysteine (3HPMA) showed significant association with sleep duration while maintaining high reliability. We observed that very short sleep duration exhibited a positive correlation with N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)-L-cysteine (CYMA) and N-acetyl-S-(3-hydroxypropyl-1-methyl)-L-cysteine (HMPMA), whereas it demonstrated a negative correlation with N-acetyl-S-(4-hydroxy-2-butenyl)-L-cysteine (MHBMA3) and 3HPMA compared with the normal sleep duration by age group. Our findings indicate a significant association between VOC exposure and sleep, and our study provides novel epidemiological evidence that supports the linkage between environmental pollutants and sleep.