Gender-Specific Longitudinal Association of Sleep Duration with Blood Pressure among Children: Evidence from CHNS 2004–2015

PURPOSE: We conducted this study to add the evidence regarding the gender-specific association between sleep duration and blood pressure (BP) in children. METHODS: A secondary analysis was performed among 1000 children aged 7–13 years, who had at least two rounds of survey records in China Health and Nutrition Survey through 2004–2015. Generalized estimating equation was used to explore the gender-specific association of sleep duration with BP. The subgroup analysis was applied in those participants with normal weight. RESULTS: The time trend of decreasing sleep duration, along with increasing BP level, was observed in each age group during the survey period. Short sleepers (<9 hours per day) have higher level of both systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) than long sleepers in girls (all p < 0.05). By contrast, only SBP was higher in short sleepers among boys (p < 0.05). There was gender difference in the association between sleep duration and DBP (p for interaction <0.05). The stratification analysis showed that short sleep duration could consistently predict a higher level of diastolic BP (DBP) in both crude (β = 2.968, 95% CI: 1.629, 4.306) and adjusted models (β = 1.844, 95% CI: 0.273, 3.416) only in girls. Sleep duration was also analyzed as continuous variable, and the very similar associations were observed. Moreover, the established associations can be verified among children with normal weight. CONCLUSIONS: There was a time trend of decreasing sleep duration alongside increasing BP among children from 2004 to 2015. Short sleep duration was independently associated with increased DBP; however, only girls were susceptible to the association.