[Sleep and hypertension. An epidemiologic study in 7,901 workers]

In order to evaluate possible correlations between blood pressure levels and sleep quality, 7,901 workers of both sexes living in Paris area have been the subject of a survey during their annual examination performed by workside physicians. The enquiry included questions related to sleep quantity and quality, sleeping pills consumption, awakenings, nightmares, snoring, way of life and working conditions. The information concerning these parameters was available for 7,542 people. Among them, 6,551 (86.9%) did not suffer from high blood pressure (HBP) (blood pressure less than 160/95 mmHg), 618 (8.2%) presented a high blood pressure but were not treated, 371 (4.9%) received a treatment against HBP. The average sleep duration is about 7.4 h (S.D. = 1.0) for men and about 7.6 h (S.D. = 1.0) for women (less than 0.001). It is significatively and negatively correlated with the systolic blood pressure level (SBP) (less than 0.001) and the diastolic blood pressure level (DBP) (less than 0.001). The frequency of patients complaining of nightly awakening and of snoring significatively increase with SBP (p less than 0.05) and DBP (p less than 0.001). The observed association between DBP (but not SBP) and sleep duration and nightly awakening remains significant in multivariate analysis including age, sex, tobacco smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption, use of sleeping pills and hypotensive treatment, as well as the negative correlation between SBP and nightmare frequency. The correlation between SBP or SBP and snoring was no more significant. In conclusion, a significant correlation has been found between the blood pressure levels and the sleep quality whose clinical consequences remain to be explored.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)