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(Hypertension. 2008;51:e15.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Gender-Specific Associations of Short Sleep Duration With Prevalent Hypertension

Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biometry, and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

Susanne Moebus

Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry, and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Stefan Möhlenkamp; Raimund Erbel

Clinic of Cardiology, West German Heart Center, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Karl Heinz Jöckel

Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry, and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg-Essen, Germany

on behalf of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study Investigative Group

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

We read the interesting recent article by Cappuccio et al,¹ who found that sleep deprivation was positively associated with hypertension among women. We examined this hypothesis in our ongoing Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, a prospective population-based cohort study.^2,3 Interestingly, we were able to corroborate the gender specificity of the association between short duration of sleep (5 hours per night) and prevalence of hypertension, although we observed a weaker association.

The age-adjusted prevalence ratio in our study was 1.05 (95% CI: 0.89 to 1.23) among men and 1.24 (95% CI: 1.04 to 1.46) among women. Furthermore, we observed that daily long siesta (midday naps) is associated with excessively short and long sleep durations at night. However, adjustment for regular siesta did not change the estimates (Table).

Some points deserve critical appraisal. First, the authors state, "among women, in fully adjusted analyses, short duration of sleep (5 hours per night) was associated with higher risk of hypertension compared with the group sleeping 7 hours (OR [odds ratio]: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.13 to 3.58)." This result does not correspond with any result in their tables.

Second, in their cross-sectional analysis, the authors calculated prevalence odds ratios and interpreted them as relative risks. However, the odds ratio does not appropriately depict the clinical and public health relevance in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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				F. P. Cappuccio and S. Stranges Response to Gender-Specific Associations of Short Sleep Duration With Prevalent Hypertension Hypertension, March 1, 2008; 51(3): e17 - e17. [Full Text] [PDF]