The role of sleep metrics on central and peripheral blood pressure values in children

Abstract

Shortened and poor-quality sleep have emerged as non-traditional risk factors for the development of high blood pressure (BP) in adults, but it is unclear if these relations exist in young children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate self-report sleep metrics and their associations with central and peripheral BP values in younger children. Participants included 26 healthy 7-12-year-old children (10 ± 2 yrs, 11 boys, 15 girls). Self-report sleep was evaluated using the Children’s Sleep Health Questionnaire (CSHQ) and a total sleep disturbance score was generated, where a higher score indicates worse sleep (a score ≥41 is suggestive of a pediatric sleep disorder). Peripheral BP was measured and using pulse wave analysis (PWA) central BP was estimated, both of which were averaged over 3 measurements. Pearson’s r correlations were used to assess relations between self-report sleep score (SS) and BP values. Significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Self-report sleep score averaged 41 ± 6 points. Self-report SS was significantly associated with central SBP and DBP (r = .41, p = 0.04, and r = .39, p = 0.05, respectively), and peripheral SBP (r = .40, p = 0.04), but not peripheral DBP (p = 0.08). In this sample, self-report sleep score was significantly and positively associated with central and peripheral BP values in healthy children age 7-12. These findings support that sleep may present as a primordial prevention target for the maintenance of cardiovascular health throughout the lifespan beginning in childhood.