Sleeping habits and aortic stiffness in middle-aged men and women from the general population: insights from the SCAPIS study

Abstract

Background The relationship between sleeping habits and aortic stiffness remains inconclusive and is not fully explored in the European general population. Methods We examined cross-sectionally 8659 participants from the Swedish population-based cohort Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS), mean age 57.5 years, 52.1% women. A self-administered questionnaire on sleeping habits (duration, quality, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness) was administered. Aortic stiffness was examined by the gold-standard method, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (c-f PWV) using Sphygmocor® XCEL, continuously and stratified by cut-off of >10 m/s. Multivariable linear and logistic regression were performed stratified by sex. Results Out of 8659 subjects (mean c-f PWV of 9.4 ± 1.9 m/s), 32.3% had c-f PWV >10 m/s, defined as aortic stiffness. Compared with subjects with c-f PWV ≤10 m/s, individuals with aortic stiffness reported more insomnia (p = 0.01) but less daytime sleepiness (p = 0.008). Men and women with poor sleep quality had 0.2 m/s lower mean c-f PWV compared with subjects with good sleep quality (p = 0.004). No difference in mean PWV was found in men and women with shorter/longer sleep duration (p > 0.05). In the multivariable regression models, no significant association was found between poor sleep quality, shorter (≤6 h) or longer (≥9 h) sleep duration and aortic stiffness in the total population, neither among men nor women (all p > 0.05), independently of cardiovascular risk factors. Conclusions Short and long sleep duration and poor sleep quality are not associated with aortic stiffness, measured with the gold-standard method c-f-PWV, in middle-aged men and women from the Swedish general population, independently of cardiovascular risk factors.