Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction: Insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) each increase risk for hypertension (HTN). Among older adults, there is a negative synergistic association of comorbid insomnia and OSA (i.e., COMISA) on incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) but it is unknown if this comorbidity is associated with HTN risk earlier in the lifespan.
Research Questions: 1) Is COMISA associated with incident HTN among younger adults? 2) Do COMISA-HTN associations differ by sex?
Hypotheses: We hypothesized that 1) COMISA would be associated with a greater risk of HTN than having no sleep disorder, 2) the hazard would be larger than for insomnia and OSA alone, and 3) distinct COMISA-HTN associations would be observed among men and women, respectively.
Methods: Analyses included Veterans who enrolled in Veterans Health Administration (VA) care 2001-2021, a group selected because of its early adult age distribution. We merged administrative data, including outpatient and inpatient encounters, diagnoses, (ICD-9-CM/10 codes/dates) and pharmacy records. Veterans without demographic data, a history of other sleep disorders or CVD, or <2 clinical encounters were excluded. Sleep disorders were defined by 1 inpatient or ≥2 outpatient encounters. HTN was defined by 1 inpatient or ≥2 outpatient encounters and/or ≥1 antihypertensive medication fill. Time-varying Cox proportional hazard models were adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral/lifestyle, and clinical factors, and stratified analyses by sex. We used multiple imputation to address missing data.
Results: Analyses included 1,293,165 Veterans (12% women; mean age 32.8) with an average follow-up of 7.6 years. Men with COMISA showed a 19% greater risk of HTN vs. no sleep diagnosis (95% CL: 1.17-1.20). Risks were slightly lower – but still significant – for men with only insomnia (HR:1.08 [95% CL: 1.06-1.09]) or only OSA (HR:1.15 [95% CL: 1.13-1.16]). Women with COMISA had a 21% greater risk of HTN vs. those without a sleep diagnosis (95% CL: 1.16-1.26), and those with insomnia (HR:1.15 [95% CL: 1.11-1.19]) or OSA (HR:1.13 [95% CL: 1.09-1.17]) showed a lower, though still significant risk.
Conclusion: In this younger group, Veterans with COMISA had a 19-21% greater risk of HTN than without a disorder, and this risk was similar by sex and slightly higher than that attributable to insomnia or OSA alone. Increased identification of disordered sleep among younger adults should be a cardiovascular prevention priority.