Short sleep associated with hypertension.
Takeaway
- In a Chinese population, short sleepers had a heightened risk for hypertension.
Study design
- The researchers studied 874 Chinese participants (age, 40-70 y) without hypertension, recruited from 6 districts of Tianjin, China. Participants were reexamined after 2 y of follow-up.
Key results
- Among the younger age group (40-55 y), a short sleep duration (≤4.9 h was associated with a significantly higher risk for hypertension compared with sleeping for 7-8 h in unadjusted analyses (OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.04-9.54).
- In an adjusted model, a significant difference was also found in the frequency of incident hypertension among short duration sleepers compared with 7-8 h sleepers (OR, 3.43; 95% CI, 1.06-11.1).
Limitations
- The study cannot prove causation.
- Sleep duration was determined by self-reporting.
- Sleep quality was not included in the analysis.
- The study was relatively small and the 2-y follow-up may be too short.
Why this matters
- The authors assert that a healthy lifestyle can help prevent hypertension, and this should include healthy sleep duration, particularly in young people.
