A precise understanding of the effects of experimental sleep deprivation on inflammation is necessary to refine theoretical perspectives on sleep-related immunopathological processes and implement robust empirical procedures. Here, we report an updated preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis systematic review and meta-analysis testing the effects of experimental total and partial sleep deprivation on circulating inflammatory markers in healthy adult individuals. PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were searched up to March 2025. Data were analysed using the DerSimonian and Laird random effects approach. Of the 2264 articles retrieved, we included 35 studies reporting on 887 participants. Compared to normal sleep, multiple nights of experimental partial sleep deprivation (sleep duration reduced to ~4.30 h for 3+ nights) were associated with a significant increase of interleukin-6 [IL-6, k = 5, d = 0.42, [95% CI = 0.11 to 0.73], p < 0.01] and C-reactive protein [CRP, k = 5, d = 0.76, [95% CI = 0.09 to 1.43], p = 0.03] in blood. A single night of total or partial sleep deprivation was not associated with changes in inflammation. Results suggest that the upregulation of inflammatory proteins in blood may only manifest following persistent periods of partial sleep deprivation. Further research will be needed to determine whether sleep recovery strategies (e.g., naps, sleep extension) may restore immune homeostasis. We suggest that experimental partial sleep deprivation for at least 3 nights may elicit peripheral IL-6 and CRP and could therefore serve as a valid procedure to study sleep-related immunopathological processes.

Keywords: C‐reactive protein; cytokines; immune system; interleukin‐6; sleep; tumour necrosis factor.

© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Sleep Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Sleep Research Society.

为了精确理解实验性睡眠剥夺对炎症的影响，有必要完善关于与睡眠相关的免疫病理过程的理论视角，并实施稳健的经验程序。在此，我们报告了一项系统评价和荟萃分析，该研究更新了“系统综述和荟萃分析首选报告项目”（Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, PRISMA），以测试实验性完全睡眠剥夺和部分睡眠剥夺对健康成年个体循环炎症标志物的影响。我们在截至2025年3月的PubMed、Scopus、PsycINFO 和 CINAHL 数据库中进行了搜索。数据分析采用 DerSimonian 和 Laird 的随机效应方法。从检索到的 2264 篇文章中，我们纳入了 35 篇研究论文，涉及 887 名参与者。与正常睡眠相比，连续多晚的部分睡眠剥夺（将睡眠时间减少至约 4.30 小时持续三晚及以上）会导致血液中的白细胞介素-6 (IL-6) [k = 5, d = 0.42, [95% CI = 0.11 至 0.73], p < 0.01] 和 C 反应蛋白 (CRP) [k = 5, d = 0.76, [95% CI = 0.09 至 1.43], p = 0.03] 显著增加。一晚的完全睡眠剥夺或部分睡眠剥夺并未与炎症变化相关联。研究结果表明，血液中炎症蛋白上调可能仅在经历持续的部分睡眠剥夺后才显现出来。进一步的研究将需要确定是否可以通过睡眠恢复策略（例如小睡、延长睡眠时间）来恢复免疫稳态。我们建议至少三晚的实验性部分睡眠剥夺可能会导致外周 IL-6 和 CRP 的升高，因此可以作为研究与睡眠相关的免疫病理过程的有效程序。

关键词：C反应蛋白；细胞因子；免疫系统；白细胞介素-6；睡眠；肿瘤坏死因子。