THE INFLUENCE OF SLEEP DURATION ON BLOOD PRESSURE INDICATORS IN ADOLESCENTS

Objective: To examine the influence of sleep duration on blood pressure indicators in adolescents aged 12-13 years. Design and method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,519 adolescents aged 12-13 years (mean age: 12.3 ± 0.46 years). The prevalence of arterial hypertension was assessed and its association with sleep duration was analyzed. Blood pressure criteria for adolescents were defined as follows: Normal blood pressure: Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) < 89th percentile High normal blood pressure: SBP and DBP between the 90th and 94th percentiles Hypertension: SBP and DBP > 95th percentile Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version 22). The Pearsonc hi square test was used to compare groups and assess relationships, with Fisher’s exact test applied when comparing proportions. Results: The study included 1519 adolescents aged 12-13 years, with boys accounting for 49.1% (n = 745) and girls for 50.9% (n = 774). The distribution of blood pressure categories was as follows: Normal blood pressure: 62.7% (n = 953) High normal blood pressure: 24.8% (n = 377) Hypertension (Stages I and II): 12.4% (n = 189) Among adolescents with normal blood pressure, 65.2% (n=621) reported a sleep duration of 7-8 hours, whereas 57.2% (n=324) of those with hypertension reported the same sleep duration. Additionally, 34.8% (n= 332) of adolescents with normal blood pressure slept for 9-10 hours or more, compared to 42.8% (n=242) of adolescents with hypertension. Statistically significant differences were observed between the groups (chi square = 9.472, df = 1, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Longer sleep duration was associated with higher blood pressure. These findings suggest that optimizing sleep duration could be a key target for intervention in the management of hypertension.