Associations of environmental toxicant exposure with adult sleep problems and the mediating roles of inflammation

Sleep problems are growing health concerns. Investigating their associations with multiple common environmental toxicants is vital to guide targeted mechanism research and exposure prevention. This study examined the associations of multiple environmental toxicants (53 toxicants from 8 categories) with sleep problems, including trouble sleeping and short sleep duration (SSD, ≤5 h/night), using National Health and Nutrition Examination and Survey 2005–2018. Exposome-wide association study and Boruta algorithm were conducted to rank the effects of environmental toxicants. The mediating roles of systemic inflammation and subgroup analysis by sex were also examined. Among the 12,506 enrolled adults, 25.3 % reported trouble sleeping and 13.3 % had SSD. Of the 53 toxicants, 17 toxicants from 6 categories and 19 toxicants from 5 categories were associated with trouble sleeping and SSD, respectively. White blood cell, lymphocyte, and basophils counts mediated 2.3–21.0 %, 6.7–12.3 %, and 7.9–8.5 % of their associations with trouble sleeping, respectively. Females were more vulnerable with 25 and 24 associated toxicants for trouble sleeping and SSD, respectively, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for trouble sleeping (all P ≤ 0.04). This study identified the environmental toxicants that were associated with sleep problems. Targeted mechanism research and exposure preventions are needed to promote sleep health.