Articles

Association of Sleep Duration and Quality With Alterations in the Hypothalamic-Pituitary Adrenocortical Axis: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Castro-Diehl, Olga Cecilia; Roux, Ana V. Diez; Redline, Susan; Seeman, Teresa; Shrager, Sandi E.; Shea, Steven J. C.

Context:
Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality are associated with cardiovascular outcomes. One mechanism proposed to explain this association is altered diurnal cortisol secretion.
Objective:
The objective of the study was to examine the associations of sleep duration and sleep quality with diurnal salivary cortisol levels.
Design:
This was a cross-sectional analysis using data from examination 5 (2010–2012) of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Actigraphy-based measures of sleep duration and efficiency were collected over 7 days, and salivary cortisol samples were collected over 2 days from participants aged 54–93 years (n = 600 with analyzable data).
Results:
Shorter average sleep duration (<6 h/night) was associated with less pronounced late decline in cortisol [2.2% difference in slope; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8–3.7; P ≤ .01] and less pronounced wake-to-bed slope (2.2% difference; 95% CI 1.0–3.4; P ≤ .001) compared with longer sleep duration (≥6 h/night). Lower sleep efficiency (<85%) was associated with less pronounced early decline in cortisol (29.0% difference in slope; 95% CI 4.1–59.7; P < .05) compared with higher sleep efficiency (≥85%). Subjects reporting insomnia had a flatter cortisol awakening response (−16.1% difference in slope; 95% CI −34.6 to −0.1; P < .05) compared with those not reporting insomnia.
Conclusions:
Shorter sleep duration, lower sleep efficiency, and insomnia are associated with alterations in diurnal cortisol levels consistent with changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal regulation.

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Also Published In

Title
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2015-1198

More About This Work

Academic Units
Medicine
Publisher
The Endocrine Society
Published Here
April 19, 2016