Short weekday sleep was not a risk factor for increased early mortality if it was combined with medium to long weekend sleep and suggests there may be positive effects from compensatory sleep.

In people below the age of 65 years, short weekday and weekend sleep was associated with a 46% higher mortality rate compared with the reference group. However, this association went away if weekend sleep was long.

Sleep duration has been shown to decrease with age and this may affect the relationship of sleep duration with mortality. No significant associations between sleep duration and early death were observed in those aged 65 years or older.