Ecologically Assessed Sleep Duration and Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Men and Women

Among younger adults, to determine the associations of actigraph- and self-reported sleep duration with arterial stiffness (AS) assessed in clinic and in ecologically valid contexts, and to examine sex-specific associations.

Healthy adults ( n = 282, median age = 29 years, 67% women) completed a state-of-the-art assessment of AS at rest (SphygmoCor; carotid femoral pulse wave velocity [cfPWV]; central augmentation index [cAIx]) and 7 days of actigraphy-assessed sleep with concurrent, momentary cAIx assessment for 36 hours (Oscar-2). Multivariable regressions were conducted on the full sample and sex-stratified to examine cross-sectional linear and quadratic associations of average sleep duration with resting PWV and cAIx, average cAIx while awake and asleep, and nocturnal cAIx dipping, adjusted for demographic and health covariates. Exploratory analyses included self-reported sleep duration with AS, and actigraphy and self-reported sleep duration with the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI; Oscar-2).

Overall and by sex, associations of average sleep duration with resting cfPWV, resting cAIx, and awake cAIx were not significant. Sleep duration showed a positive, linear association with sleep cAIx in women (95% confidence interval =1.07 to 5.86, Δ R2 = 0.021). Among women, sleep duration was also inversely associated with cAIx dipping (95% confidence interval = -4.48 to -0.95, Δ R2 = 0.020). Analyses with self-reported sleep duration and AASI as alternate predictors and outcomes were not significant.

Certain sleep duration-AS associations may be sex-specific. Assessing sleep and momentary AS in ecologically valid conditions outside the research laboratory is valuable to understand these relations. Although this investigation should be replicated, findings raise the question of whether interventions to target sleep duration also reduce AS.