Investigation of the relationship between arterial stiffness and sleep architecture in patients with essential hypertension

A change in sleep architecture might increase the risk of hypertension and worsen target organs. This study thus aimed to study the features of sleep architecture and examine its relationship with pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness, in patients with essential hypertension and healthy people aged 45–65 years (n?=?106). We collected data on demographics, the serum index, overnight polysomnography, vascular testing and ambulatory blood pressure in addition to measuring arterial stiffness and monitoring sleep respiration. We found that patients with hypertension had longer sleep latency and shorter duration. Their sleep efficiency and the ratio of N3 in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement were lower, while the micro-arousal index (MI), N1 and N2 in NREM, and the apnea-hypopnea index were higher than normal people in controls. PWV raised with a decrease in N3 and an increase in the MI. In summary, there were notable changes in sleep architecture and with a decrease in N3 and increase in MI can accelerate arterial stiffness and then worsen target organ damage in patients with hypertension.