Does sleep duration contribute to mortality rates in patients with hypertension?

This study examined the association between sleep duration and mortality rates in hypertensive patients. The authors concluded that shorter sleep duration is associated with higher rates of mortality in patients with hypertension.

Patients with hypertension have a higher resting blood pressure than the body needs. This can lead to a number of health complications. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea (where the airways become blocked during sleep) are more common in patients with hypertension. Hypertension and sleep disorders are both independent risk factors for mortality and cardiovascular complications such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. Whether the amount of sleep hypertensive patients get has an influence on mortality has not been fully studied. Identifying and targeting such risk factors could improve the outcome for patients with hypertension. 

1,741 men and women were studied in a sleep laboratory. 45% had hypertension. Duration of sleep was measured in all patients and categorized as 5 or fewer hours, 5 to 6 hours, and 6 or more hours. Mortality rates were recorded over an average period of 15.5 years.

The average sleep duration across all patients was 5.9 hours. Overall, patients with hypertension slept 0.6 hours less than those without hypertension.

The rate of mortality was 14% for patients without hypertension in the 5 to 6 hours and the 6 or more hours sleep groups. For patients with hypertension this increased to 22.4% in the 6 or more hours sleep group and 31.2% in the 5 to 6 hours group. For the patients that got 5 or fewer hours sleep the rate of mortality was 19.4% for those without hypertension and 49.7% for those with hypertension. 

The authors concluded that there is a significant link between shorter duration of sleep and mortality rates in patients with hypertension.  

Sleep duration was based on measurements from one night only. Measurements taken over a longer period of time may be needed to confirm these results.