@article {777, title = {Associations between gender and measures of daytime somnolence in the Sleep Heart Health Study.}, journal = {Sleep}, volume = {27}, year = {2004}, month = {2004 Mar 15}, pages = {305-11}, abstract = {

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship of gender to subjective measures of sleepiness, including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), in a community-based population.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional study.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Multicenter Sleep Heart Health Study participants (N = 6.440, 52\% women) recruited from ongoing cohort studies.

INTERVENTIONS: N/A.

MEASUREMENTS: Scores from the ESS, Sleep Heart Health Study daytime sleepiness and feeling unrested questions, polysomnography results (respiratory disturbance index at 4\% desaturation), as well as data on difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep, insufficient sleep, sedative use, alcohol use, cardiovascular or respiratory disease, frequent awakening due to leg cramps.

RESULTS: Women reported feeling sleepy as often as men did (odds ratio [OR] = 1.06; confidence interval [CI], 0.86-1.32), but women were less likely to have an ESS score > 10 (adjusted OR = 0.77; CI, 0.66-0.90) and more likely to report feeling unrested (adjusted OR = 1.39; CI, 1.14-1.69) than men. In men, the ESS score was more strongly correlated with reports of feeling unrested or sleepy compared to women.

CONCLUSIONS: Men and women answer questions on sleepiness differently. Findings indicate that using the ESS to detect subjective sleepiness is more likely to identify men with sleepiness. Since the ESS is more strongly related to other subjective measures in men, the ESS may be a more sensitive measure of subjective sleepiness in men than in women.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disorders of Excessive Somnolence, Female, Health Status, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Polysomnography, Severity of Illness Index, Sex Factors}, issn = {0161-8105}, doi = {10.1093/sleep/27.2.305}, author = {Baldwin, Carol M and Kapur, Vishesh K and Holberg, Catharine J and Rosen, Carol and Nieto, F Javier} } @article {1051, title = {Sleep disordered breathing and hypertension: does self-reported sleepiness modify the association?}, journal = {Sleep}, volume = {31}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 Aug}, pages = {1127-32}, abstract = {

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Epidemiologic studies that demonstrate increased risk of hypertension in persons with sleep disordered breathing indicate that only a minority of these persons report significant subjective sleepiness. Studies also suggest that presence of self-reported sleepiness may identify a subset of persons with sleep disordered breathing who are at greatest risk of cardiovascular sequelae, including hypertension. We explore whether self-reported sleepiness modifies the relationship between sleep disordered breathing and prevalent hypertension.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional.

SETTING: Multicenter study.

PARTICIPANTS: 6046 subjects from the Sleep Heart Health Study.

MEASUREMENTS: Polysomnography, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, questionnaire determined excessive sleepiness and Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and covariates.

RESULTS: The odds of hypertension at higher apnea hypopnea index categories were larger in participants identified as sleepy based on responses to a frequency of sleepiness question or the Epworth score. For example, for those with AHI > or =30 compared to AHI <1.5, the adjusted odds ratio for hypertension was 2.83 (1.33-6.04) among those reporting sleepiness > or =5 days per month, but only 1.22 (0.89-1.68) among those reporting less frequent daytime sleepiness. In adjusted logistic regression models, there was statistical evidence for effect modification by frequency of sleepiness (P = 0.033) of the association between apnea hypopnea index and hypertension. In adjusted models that included the Epworth score as a continuous variable, the interaction term fell slightly short of statistical significance (beta = 0.010, P = 0.07).

CONCLUSION: This study finds that the association of sleep disordered breathing with hypertension is stronger in individuals who report daytime sleepiness than in those who do not.

}, keywords = {Aged, Antihypertensive Agents, Comorbidity, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disorders of Excessive Somnolence, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Oxygen, Polysomnography, Sleep Apnea, Obstructive, United States}, issn = {0161-8105}, author = {Kapur, Vishesh K and Resnick, Helaine E and Gottlieb, Daniel J} }