Association between sleep pattern and incidence of hypertension: A prospective cohort study of older adult participants in the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey

Background: The relationship between sleep duration or sleep quality and the risk of hypertension has been previously examined. However, little is known regarding the association between sleep duration and quality and the risk of developing hypertension in the older adult Chinese population. Methods: The sleep patterns of 5683 participants without hypertension at baseline from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey were analyzed. Cox proportional hazard models were used to study the associations between sleep patterns and hypertension. Results: It was found that 1712 (30.12%) of the 5683 participants had an unhealthy sleep pattern. After an average follow-up of 3.31 years, 1350 of the participants had hypertension. Compared with participants with an unhealthy sleep pattern, those with a healthy sleep pattern had a 20% (hazard ratio = 0.80, 95% confidence interval = 0.67-0.94, P = = 0.008) lower risk of incident hypertension in the fully adjusted models. In addition, an approximately linear dose -response association was observed between sleep duration and the incidence of hypertension (P for non-linear =0.43). Subgroup analyses demonstrated significant interactions between age and sleep pattern concerning hypertension (P for interaction <0.05). Several sensitivity analyses were conducted, and the obtained findings were similar to the main results. Conclusions: A healthy sleep pattern, comprising an adequate sleep duration and good sleep quality, can help reduce hypertension risk. Thus, a healthy sleep pattern is crucial to decreasing hypertension in older Chinese adults in a rapidly aging society.