Abstract P469: Association Between Quality and Patterns of Sleep and Ideal Cardiovascular Health in Black Americans: Results From the Morehouse-Emory Cardiovascular (MECA) Center for Health Equity
Authors: Shabatun Islam, Jeong Hwan Kim, Syed Ahmad, Matthew L Topel, Peter Baltrus, Chang Liu, Yi-An Ko, Mahasin S Mujahid, Mario Sims, Mohamed Mubasher, Kiran Ejaz, Charles D Searles, Sandra B Dunbar, Priscilla E Pemu, Viola Vaccarino, Herman A Taylor, Arshed A QUYYUMI, Tene T Lewis
Journal: Circulation (2020)

Introduction: Sleep is hypothesized to be a contributing factor towards disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD). It has been demonstrated that Black Americans have worse sleep quality compared to other ethnic groups, but within group differences have not been studied. Whether overall sleep quality and patterns affect cardiovascular health (CVH) among Blacks has yet to be elucidated. Hypothesis: Black individuals reporting worse sleep quality and patterns will have poor CVH as measured by the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) scores. Methods: We recruited 499 Black adults (age 53 ± 10, 38% male) without known CVD from the Atlanta, GA metropolitan area. Sleep quality and patterns were assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) which includes sleep quality, nighttime disturbance, efficiency (amount of time slept while in bed), daytime dysfunction, duration, need of medications and latency (time required to fall asleep). CVH was determined by LS7 scores calculated from measured blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), and self-reported exercise, diet, and smoking, and categorized into poor (0-8), intermediate (9-10), and ideal (11-14). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between sleep and the odds of intermediate (vs. poor) and ideal (vs. poor) CVH categories after adjusting for age, gender, household income, education, marital status, and employment status. Results: A total of 55 (11%), 107 (21%), and 337 (67%) participants had ideal, intermediate, and poor LS7 scores, respectively. Those reporting PSQI-assessed poor sleep quality (OR 0.50, 95% CI [0.33 - 0.78]), longer latency (OR 0.50, 95% CI [0.36 - 0.70]), disturbance (OR 0.45, 95% CI [0.26 - 0.77]) and daytime dysfunction (OR 0.52, 95% CI [0.31 - 0.89]) had significantly lower adjusted odds of having ideal CVH. Daytime dysfunction was significantly associated with lower adjusted odds of having ideal blood pressure (OR 0.57, 95% CI [0.38 - 0.87]), glucose (OR 0.71, 95% CI [0.51 - 0.98]), and physical activity (OR 0.58, 95% CI [0.36 - 0.93]). Similarly, longer latency was significantly associated with lower adjusted odds of having ideal BMI (OR 0.72, 95% CI [0.54 - 0.95]), blood pressure (OR 0.71, 95% CI [0.55 - 0.92]), and cholesterol (OR 0.73, 95% CI [0.55 - 0.98]). PSQI-assessed shorter sleep duration was not associated with poor overall CVH, but was associated with significantly lower adjusted odds of having ideal blood pressure (OR 0.77, 95% CI [0.61 - 0.99]). Conclusion: Among Black Americans, poor sleep in terms of quality, nighttime disturbance, daytime dysfunction and longer latency, was associated with worse overall CVH or its components. Whether addressing sleep quality in Blacks will improve CVH and outcomes needs to be studied.