Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
Sleep. 2021 Feb 12;44(2). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa175.
Vascular dysfunction is a hypothesized mechanism linking poor sleep habits to an increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the vascular profile associated with free-living sleep duration and sleep regularity has not been well elucidated, particularly in young adults. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the associations between mean sleep duration, regularity in sleep duration, and peripheral vascular function in young adult college students.
Fifty-one healthy undergraduate students (20 ± 1 years) completed 14 days of 24-hour wrist actigraphy and subsequent vascular assessments. Macrovascular function was measured using brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) while microvascular function was measured via passive leg movement (PLM).
Mean sleep duration was unrelated to FMD and PLM. Conversely, more irregular sleep duration (14-day sleep duration standard deviation [SD]) was unfavorably associated with all three measures of PLM-induced hyperemia (peak leg blood flow [LBF], p = 0.01; change in LBF from baseline to peak, p < 0.01; LBF area under the curve, p < 0.01), and remained significant in regression models which adjusted for sex, body mass index, blood pressure, physical activity, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and sleep duration (all p < 0.05). When using a median split to dichotomize "low" and "high" sleep duration SD groups, those demonstrating high variability in sleep duration exhibited ~45% lower PLM responses compared with those demonstrating low variability.
Irregular sleep duration is associated with poorer microvascular function as early as young adulthood. These findings support the growing body of evidence that irregular sleep patterns may be an independent and modifiable risk factor for CVD.
血管功能障碍是一种假设的机制，将不良的睡眠习惯与心血管疾病（CVD）的发病率增加联系起来。然而，与自由生活的睡眠时间和睡眠规律相关的血管特征尚未得到很好的阐明，特别是在年轻人中。因此，本研究旨在评估年轻成年大学生平均睡眠时间、睡眠时间规律与外周血管功能之间的关系。
51 名健康的大学生（20±1 岁）完成了 14 天的 24 小时腕动描记术和随后的血管评估。肱动脉血流介导的扩张（FMD）用于测量大血管功能，通过被动腿部运动（PLM）测量微血管功能。
平均睡眠时间与 FMD 和 PLM 无关。相反，睡眠不规律（14 天睡眠时长标准差）与所有三种 PLM 诱导充血的测量值均呈负相关（腿部血流峰值[LBF]，p=0.01；从基线到峰值的 LBF 变化，p<0.01；LBF 曲线下面积，p<0.01），并且在调整性别、体重指数、血压、身体活动、酒精和咖啡因摄入以及睡眠时间的回归模型中仍然具有统计学意义（所有 p<0.05）。当使用中位数分割将“低”和“高”睡眠时间标准差组进行二分法时，睡眠时间变异性高的组与变异性低的组相比，PLM 反应降低了约 45%。
不规则的睡眠时间与微血管功能较差有关，早在年轻成年期就已经如此。这些发现支持越来越多的证据表明，不规律的睡眠模式可能是 CVD 的一个独立和可改变的危险因素。
