Sleep and risk of hypertension in general American adults: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2015–2018)

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of research is to investigate the associations of sleep factors separately and jointly with risk of hypertension. METHODS: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) is a nationally representative survey. Participants aged over 20 years with complete and credible data from the NHANES 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 waves were included. Hypertension was assessed based on self-report medical diagnoses, or antihypertensive medication use, or systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg. Sleep information (sleep duration, trouble sleeping, daytime sleepiness, self-reported snoring and sleep-related breathing issue) was obtained from household interview. RESULTS: Of 7426 participants, the mean (standard deviation) age was 48.0 (17.3) years, 3845 (51.8%) were females. The prevalence of hypertension was 32.8%, and lower in those with 7-9 h sleep, no trouble sleeping, no excessive daytime sleepiness, no snoring or sleep apnea symptoms, decreased as the quantity of healthy sleep factors increased. The self-reported short sleep (odds ratio [OR]: 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.54, P = 0.032), trouble sleeping (OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.95, P = 0.001), excessive daytime sleepiness (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01-1.35, P = 0.041) and sleep apnea symptoms (OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.10-1.61, P = 0.004) were associated with 25%, 53%, 17% and 33% increased risk of hypertension, respectively. Participants with a poor sleep pattern was associated with higher hypertension risk (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.90-3.22, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Sleep behaviors were cross-sectionally associated with a considerably higher hypertension risk.