Association between electroencephalogram-based sleep characteristics and physical health in the general adult population

We examined the associations between electroencephalogram (EEG)-based sleep characteristics and physical health parameters in general adults via a cross-sectional study recruiting 100 volunteers aged 30-59 years. Sleep characteristics were measured at home using a portable multichannel electroencephalography recorder. Using the k-means++ clustering method, according to 10 EEG-based parameters, participants were grouped into better (n=39), middle (n=46), and worse (n=15) sleep groups. Comparing 50 physical health parameters among the groups, we identified four signals of difference (P<0.05), including systolic (sBP) and diastolic blood pressure (dBP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP), and serum creatinine, where sBP reached a Bonferroni-corrected threshold (P<0.001). The sBP was higher by 7.9 (95% confidence interval 1.9-13.9) and 15.7 (7.3-24.0) mmHg before adjustment and 5.4 (- 0.1-10.9) and 8.7 (1.1-16.3) mmHg after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, drinking habits, and 3% oxygen desaturation index in the middle and worse sleep groups, respectively, than in the better group. As another approach, among 500 combinations of EEG-based and physical health parameters, there were 45 signals of correlation, of which 4 (N1% and sBP, dBP, gamma-GTP, and triglycerides) reached a Bonferroni-corrected threshold (P<0.0001). Thus, EEG-based sleep characteristics are associated with several physical health parameters, particularly sBP.