Abstract 16607: Shift Workers Have Higher Blood Pressure Medication Use, but Only When They Are Short Sleepers Who Prefer Mornings: A Uk Biobank Study

Abstract

Shift workers have higher blood pressure medication use, but only when they are short sleepers who prefer mornings: A UK Biobank Study Introduction: Poor sleep quality is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Shift work influences sleep patterns and duration, but this study examines how shift work and sleep influence cardiovascular health. Methods: Baseline (BL) and 5-year follow-up (5YFU) data from the UK Biobank cohort study (N=11,259) were used to generate separate logistic regression models of shift workers and non-shift workers to examine the moderating effects of shift work on the relationship between sleep duration (short ≤6hrs; adequate 7-8hrs; long ≥9hrs) and chronotype (morning; evening) at BL with incident blood pressure (BP) medication (med) use from BL to 5YFU. All models were adjusted for family history of CVD, depression status, insomnia, narcolepsy, and alcohol intake. Results: The sample was predominately female (57.6%), White (97.8%), had not attended college (50.4%) and reported a mean age of 55.2 ± 7.4 years. Most were adequate sleepers (7-8hrs) (72.1%), morning chronotype (60.4%), and currently employed (66.5%) with 8.2% identifying as shift workers at BL. Only 7.7% reported incident BP med use from BL to 5YFU. Analysis demonstrated significant moderation for both sleep duration (p=0.02) and chronotype (p=0.04) in those working shifts. Among shift workers, short sleepers (≤6hrs) had a 2-fold increased odds of incident BP med use compared to adequate sleepers (OR=2.14, 95% CI=1.24-3.67, p=0.006); those with morning chronotype had a 78% increased odds of incident BP med use compared to evening chronotype (OR=1.78, 95% CI=1.03-3.12, p=0.04). Among non-shift workers, short versus adequate sleepers and those reporting morning versus evening chronotype had only a 3% increased (OR=1.03, 95% CI=0.85-1.25, p=0.76) and a 5% decreased (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.81-1.13, p=0.60) odds of incident BP med use, respectively. Conclusions: The relationship between sleep duration and chronotype with incident BP med use was significant among shift workers and not in non-shift workers. Shift workers who are short sleepers or of morning time preference have increased incident blood pressure medication use.