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BACKGROUND Poor sleep quality is increasingly recognized as an important and potentially modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Impaired endothelial function may be 1 mechanism underlying the association between poor sleep and CVD risk. The present study examined the relationship between objective measures of sleep quality and endothelial function in a sample of untreated hypertensive adults. METHODS Participants were 127 men (N = 74) and women (N = 53), including 55 African Americans and 72 White Americans, aged 40–60 years (mean age, 45.3 ± 8.5 years), with untreated hypertension (systolic blood pressure 130–159 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure 85–99 mm Hg). Noninvasive brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was assessed by ultrasound. Sleep parameters, including sleep efficiency (SE), total sleep time (TST), and subjective sleep quality, were assessed over 7 consecutive days by wrist actigraphy. RESULTS Participants averaged 7.76 ± 1 hours in bed, with an average SE of 78 ± 9%, and TST of 6 ± 1 hours. Brachial FMD averaged 3.5 ± 3.1%. In multivariate analyses controlling for sex, race, body mass index, clinic blood pressure, income, smoking, alcohol use, and baseline arterial diameter, SE was positively associated with FMD (β = 0.28, P = 0.012). Subjective sleep quality (β = −0.04, P = 0.63) and TST (β = −0.11, P = 0.25) were unrelated to FMD. CONCLUSIONS Poor sleep as indicated by low SE was associated with impaired FMD. These findings for SE are consistent with previous observations of other measures implicating poor sleep as a CVD risk factor. Interventions that improve sleep may also help lower CVD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptions to mood, cognition, and other daytime functioning are common and debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), and there is evidence that sleep problems contribute to these symptoms. However, previous studies are limited by reliance on self-reported sleep and cross-sectional designs. With the aim of assessing sleep as a possible treatment target for improving daytime functioning in PD, we used smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and actigraphy to investigate temporal associations between sleep (objective and subjective) and daytime functioning. Twenty participants with mild-moderate PD wore actigraphs and completed sleep diaries for 14–15 days. They reported daytime functioning (anxiety, positive affect, cognitive function, fatigue, and social function) twice daily via smartphone-administered questionnaires. Multilevel modeling examined whether sleep quantity/quality predicted next-day functioning, and whether current mood (anxiety, positive affect) predicted later sleep. Average completion rates for sleep diaries and daytime questionnaires were 94% and 91%, respectively. Subjective sleep quality predicted next-day anxiety (B = −.75, SE =.25, p=.003), but objective sleep did not predict any daytime functioning variables (p's>.112). Positive affect predicted later subjective sleep quality (B = 0.03, SE =.01, p =.003) but not objective sleep quantity/quality (p's>.107). We demonstrated the feasibility of using EMA in PD. On a daily timescale, subjective sleep quality was bidirectionally associated with mood, whereas objective sleep was not associated with any daytime functioning. This discrepancy suggests that perception of sleep is important for mood in PD, which could provide targets for non-pharmacological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]