Effects of Comorbid Sleep Disorders on Cardiovascular Complications of Hypertension Among Patients With Newly-diagnosed Hypertension: An Analysis of the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort

Abstract

Objectives This study investigated the effects of comorbid sleep disorders (SD) on the incidence of cardiovascular complications among newly-diagnosed hypertension (HTN) patients. Methods As study population, 124 057 newly-diagnosed essential HTN patients aged 30 or older, without cardiovascular complications at diagnosis with HTN, were selected from the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. The incidence of cardiovascular complications was calculated, Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to analyze the risk of complications, and the population attributable fraction (PAF) for cardiovascular complications of having comorbid SD at HTN diagnosis was calculated. Results Over 10 years, 32 275 patients (26.0%) developed cardiovascular complications. In HTN patients with comorbid SD at diagnosis of HTN, the incidence of cardiovascular complications (78.3/1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 75.8 to 80.9) was higher than in those without comorbid SD (58.6/1000 person-years; 95% CI, 57.9 to 59.3) and the risk of cardiovascular complications was 1.21 times higher (95% CI, 1.17 to 1.25), adjusting for age, gender, income, area of residence, and comorbid diabetes mellitus. The PAF of having comorbid SD at diagnosis of HTN for the incidence of cardiovascular complications was 2.07% (95% CI, 1.69 to 2.44). Conclusions Newly-diagnosed essential HTN patients aged 30 or older who had comorbid SD at the time of their HTN diagnosis had a higher incidence of cardiovascular complications than those without comorbid SD. Age, gender, income, area of residence, and comorbid diabetes mellitus had a significant effect on the incidence of cardiovascular complications. Approximately 2% of cardiovascular complications were found to occur due to the presence of SD.

Keywords

• essential hypertension
• sleep wake disorders
• cardiovascular disease
• incidence