Study finds CKD risk lowest in men who slept less than 6 hours per night
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“Apparently healthy” Japanese men who slept less than 6 hours per night were found to have the lowest risk for incident chronic kidney disease during a median follow-up of 7 years.
According to Hanako Nakajima, of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan, and colleagues, “Several studies have revealed that an individual’s habitual duration of sleep is associated with increased risks of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular disease.” However, they argued, little is known about the association between sleep duration and incident CKD or about the optimal duration of sleep that might aid in prevention.
Researchers categorized 7,752 men and 6,722 women into four groups based on sleep duration (< 6 hours, 6 to 7 hours, 7 to 8 hours or 8 hours), following the men for a median of 7 years and the women for a median of 6.7 years.
During this time, incident CKD (defined as presence of proteinuria and/or eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73m2) was found in 19.5% of the men and in 10.2% of the women. While researchers did not observe an association between sleep duration and incident CKD in women, the HR of incident CKD for men was 0.54 in the less than 6 hours group, was 0.73 in the 6- to 7-hour group and was 0.93 in the at least 8 hours group.
The researchers acknowledged these results differ from other studies on sleep duration and CKD risk, suggesting this may partly be related to the sleep habits of the Japanese population who, on average, have a shorter sleep time than that of other ethnic groups.
They also put forth some possible reasons regarding how short sleep duration could affect incident CKD, noting the precise mechanisms are unknown. Their reasoning is rooted in the idea that a short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin levels and elevated ghrelin levels. Ghrelin, they argued, “has a protective effect against renal fibrotic changes,” while leptin is associated with the progression of kidney diseases.”
“Together these findings suggest that each sleep habit could affect incident CKD occurrence,” the researchers concluded. “Therefore, routine screening of renal function for patients with a sleep disturbance should be considered.”– by Melissa J. Webb
Disclosures: Nakajima reports no relevant financial disclosure. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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