0384 Do Nurses with High Blood Pressure Have More Sleep Disturbances Than Their Peers?

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Nurses work in stressful environments and often have rotating work schedules, which may put them at risk for disturbed sleep and health. Poor quality and short sleep duration are strong risk factors for high blood pressure (HBP). Yet few studies have examined these associations in nurses, who may be a particularly at-risk sample. To address this gap, we examined group differences in self-reported and actigraphy-assessed sleep among nurses with and without self-reported HBP. Methods Participants were 392 nurses (91.8% female; 77.8% white, mean age = 39.54) recruited for a parent study. Participants completed baseline questionnaires including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), followed by 14 days of actigraphy and sleep diaries to prospectively assess 14-day mean total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency (SE). An independent samples t-tests was used to assess group differences in sleep variables by HBP status. Linear regression was used to further examine the association between HBP status on sleep variables when controlling for age, race, gender, ethnicity, and body mass index (BMI). Results Twenty-nine (7%) nurses endorsed having clinically-diagnosed HBP. Nurses with HBP had higher global PSQI scores (indicating worse sleep quality; t=2.71, p=0.007), compared to nurses who did not report HBP, with a mean difference of 1.24. When adjusting for covariates, the association between HBP and the PSQI became marginally significant (p=0.054). There were no group differences in sleep diary or actigraphy TST or SE by HBP status, nor did HBP predict these sleep variables when controlling for covariates. Conclusion We found that nurses who reported having clinically diagnosed HBP had poorer global sleep quality. Although limited by self-reported history of HBP diagnosis, and low endorsement of HBP in our sample, our results corroborate other findings which suggest there is a strong association between high blood pressure and disturbed sleep. Future studies should examine these associations in larger samples, assess blood pressure directly, and experimentally examine the effects of HBP treatment on sleep quality. Support NIH/NIAID R01AI128359-01