Relationship between sleep duration and arterial stiffness in a multi-ethnic population: The HELIUS study

ABSTRACT

We examined the relationship between sleep duration and arterial stiffness among a multi-ethnic cohort, and whether the associations differed among ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands. Data were derived from 10 994 participants (aged 18–71 years) of the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study. Self-reported sleep duration was categorized into: short (<7 h/night), healthy (7–8 h/night) and long (≥9 h/night). Arterial stiffness was assessed by duplicate pulse-wave velocity (PWV in m/s) measurements using the Arteriograph system. The association of sleep duration with PWV was analysed using linear regression (β) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results showed that neither short nor long sleep was related to PWV in all ethnic groups, except for long sleep in Dutch men which was associated with higher PWV (indicating stiffer arteries) after adjustment for potential confounders (β = 0.67, 95%CI, 0.23–1.11). Our study showed no convincing evidence that sleep duration was related to arterial stiffness among various ethnic groups. The link between sleep duration and cardiovascular outcomes does not seem to operate through arterial stiffness. Further research is needed to consolidate these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Arterial stiffness
• ethnicity
• HELIUS study
• minority group
• pulse-wave velocity
• sleep duration

Acknowledgements

The HELIUS study is conducted by the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam and the Public Health Service of Amsterdam. Both organizations provided core support for HELIUS. The HELIUS study is also funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation (2010T084), the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw): 200500003 and the European Union (FP-7): 278901. We acknowledge the AMC Biobank for their support in biobank management and high-quality storage of collected samples. We are most grateful to the participants of the HELIUS study and the management team, research nurses, interviewers, research assistants and other staff who have taken part in gathering data for this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.