The relationships of sleep duration and mental health with electrocardiographic findings: a retrospective-cohort study in Okinawa, Japan.
OBJECTIVE
Sleep disorders and psychological stress have become major concerns as health risks in modern Japanese society. Chronic sleep deprivation could lead to physical and mental exhaustion, which could affect the circulatory condition. In this study, we have investigated the effects of long-term sleep problems and mental health conditions on abnormal ECG findings from the standpoint of community health.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the records of community physical checkups conducted in a town in Okinawa from 1993 to 2001. Data regarding average sleep duration and the 12-item version of the general health questionnaire (GHQ) were also collected at the community physical checkups. In order to compute the odds ratio of electrocardiographic (ECG) findings according to mental health condition and sleep duration, we conducted multivariate analysis using logistic regression maneuvers.


RESULTS
There was a significant difference of average GHQ scores according to sleep duration, with shorter sleep duration (< or =6 h) correlating with poorer GHQ and longer sleep duration (> or =8 h) correlating with healthier GHQ (p < 0.05). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis among subjects with poorer GHQ, shorter sleep duration showed significantly high odds ratio (OR = 7.14) for abnormal ECG findings.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggested that the mental health condition appears to impact ECG results indirectly through its strong association with sleep duration and provided ground for suggestion that mental health items to be included in community physical checkup examination items.
Ichikawa
Kaoru
K
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Kyorin University, 6-20-2 Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. kichikawa@eapjapan.com
Matsui
Tomoko
T
Tsunoda
Tooru
T
Teruya
Koji
K
Uemura
Takamoto
T
Takeda
Nobuo
N
Okamoto
Hiroteru
H
Fukazawa
Shinji
S