Association of Sleep Disorders with Essential Hypertension in Subcontinental Population.

ABSTRACT

Effects of sleep disorders on different physiological functions have been studied in depth. One such association is that of insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea with hypertension. This study intended to evaluate the relationship between sleep disorders and essential hypertension. In this institution based case-control study, the study population was selected by simple random sampling among all patients attending the outpatient department of Medicine. Patients with major risk factors for essential hypertension and other causes of secondary hypertension were excluded. Patient’s meeting the eligible criteria of blood pressure equal to or greater than 140/90 (mean of 3 readings) mm of Hg were included as cases and matched controls were selected from the rest. The eligible population of 216 people (92 cases, 124 controls) was assessed using the modified SLEEP-50 questionnaire and evaluated using an original “Sleep Scale”. Significant sleep disorder (Sleep Scale score >6), had a prevalence of 13.89%. The mean sleep scores were significantly higher (p = 0.0037) in cases than controls. The association between sleep disorder and essential hypertension was significant. (Odd’s Ratio=2.270, 95% Confidence Interval 0.970-5.364, p=0.047). Sleep disorders are an unconventional risk factor for essential hypertension. Further studies are needed to validate the present observations.