Sleep deprivation and level of C-reactive protein

Abstract

Sleep quality is a main indicator of health and well-being. Poor sleep indicates stress factors in the living environment or a health-compromising lifestyle with increases in the synthesis of C-reactive protein (CRP). We hypothesized that the level of CRP – a marker of stress and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) – increases as a function sleep deprivation. Randomly selected 2,105 subjects from the urban, rural (villages with electricity) and remote (villages without electricity) of Chhattisgarh, India were included in the study. Sleep behaviour was studied with the help of a questionnaire and EDS was quantified using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Average nocturnal sleeps of peoples living in remote, rural and urban areas were found to be 8:56 hr, 8:29 hr and 6:55 hr, respectively. A statistically significantly rise in the prevalence of EDS was observed as a function of habitat with 3% in remote, 7.8% in rural and 27.69% in urban areas. The salivary CRP level of people living in urban areas is significantly higher (6.0 ± 0.25 mg/dl) than rural (2.7 ± 0.53 mg/dl) or remote (2.1 ± 0.48 mg/dl) populations (p < 0.001). Further, a heightened association between intensity of sleepiness and level of CRP was also witnessed (p < 0.001). Elevated CRP contents among EDS subjects indicate a higher stress level in sleep-deprived individuals. The findings of the present study suggest that CRP levels may be an index of sleep deprivation and existence of excessive sleepiness during daytime.

Keywords:

• C-reactive protein
• excessive daytime sleepiness
• sleep quality

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the Head, School of Life Sciences, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. We are also thankful to the subjects for their participation in this study.