Association between sleep duration and high blood pressure in Lithuanian adolescents

BACKGROUND: Sufficient sleep duration in children plays an essential role in physical, mental, and emotional development. High blood pressure (HBP) is growing public health problem in youth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between short sleep duration (SSD) and HBP in Lithuanian adolescents aged 11-18 years. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from 2019 to 2020 in Kaunas district, Lithuania. HBP was defined according to the 2017 AAP guidelines. Sleep duration was calculated from the time of going to bed to the time of waking up. SSD was defined as sleeping <8 h/day. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate aORs and 95% CI. RESULTS: The present analysis included 1368 subjects (723 boys and 645 girls) with a mean age of 13.96±1.76 years. Overall, the prevalence of HBP was 43.6% (51.3% for boys and 34.9% for girls). Overall, 21.7% of the subjects reported sleep duration of 7- < 8 h/day, and 11.3% - <7 h/day. In the total sample, after adjustment for sex, BMI, breakfast consumption, and parental smoking, significant associations were found between SSDs and HBP (7-<8 h/day: aOR=1.47; 95% CI, 1.12-1.95; P = 0.006, and <7 h/day: aOR=1.52; 95% CI, 1.05-2.20; P = 0.025), compared to subjects who were sleeping ≥8 h/day. In boys, after adjustment for potential confounders, SSDs were associated with higher odds of HBP (7-<8 h/day: aOR=1.94; 95% CI, 1.30-2.89; P = 0.001, and <7 h/day: aOR=2.35; 95% CI, 1.35-4.12; P = 0.003). There was no significant association between SSD and HBP among girls. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that SSD was significantly associated with increased odds of HBP in Lithuanian adolescents, especially in boys. Public health strategies should focus more on prevention of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors. KEY MESSAGES: • Sufficient sleep duration is important for adolescents’ health and may contribute to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. • Future prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.