Abstract
The study aimed to examine the association between objective estimates of sleep duration and quality and aortic stiffness while accounting for the potential confounding effect of sleep-disordered breathing. Participants were part of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Sleep study. Sleep duration and quality were assessed by 7-day wrist actigraphy, sleep-disordered breathing by home polysomnography, and aortic stiffness by magnetic resonance imaging-based aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), ascending and descending aorta distensibility. Aortic stiffness of participants with "normal" sleep duration (6-8 hours) were compared with those of "short" (<6 hours) and "long" sleep duration (>8 hours) adjusting for common cardiovascular risk factors and apnea-hypopnea index. The sample consisted of 908 participants (mean age 68.4 ± 9.1 years, 55.3% female). There was a significant linear trend of increased aPWV across short (n = 252), normal (n = 552), and long sleep durations (n = 104) (P for trend = .008). Multivariable analysis showed that people with short sleep duration had 0.94 m/s lower aPWV (95% CI: -1.54, -0.35), compared with those with normal sleep duration. In this ethnically diverse community cohort, habitual short sleep duration as estimated by actigraphy was associated with lower aortic stiffness.