Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between sleeping characteristics and hypertension in the middle-age and elderly rural population by a cross-sectional study. Methods A total of 429 villagers from 12 villages of Feng County were recruited and an epidemiological survey was conducted with questionnaire and physical examinations, including demographic characteristics, history of disease, living habits, sleep characteristics, height, weight, blood pressure and so on. Results The prevalence rate of hypertension in the whole population was 47. 6%(204/429),with 43. 8%(149/340) presenting with poor sleep quality, 18. 1%(76/421) presenting with sleep duration less than 6 h. After adjusting for confounding factors, the individuals who presented with poor sleep quality, moderate subjective sleep quality, poor subjective sleep quality, sleep latency score of 3, sleep duration less than 6 h showed a high risk of hypertension (OR=1. 735, 1. 761, 2. 495, 2. 061, 1. 980 respectively). The associations between sleep characteristics and hypertension in the whole study population were also found among females, ＞65 years, and overweight population. In addition, among overweight population, sleep efficiency ＜75% was associated with higher risk of hypertexion compared with sleep officiency ≥85% (OR=2. 287). Conclusions It is necessary to attach importance to the effect of sleep quality on hypertension and the hypertension management among the elderly population, and individualized interventions should be conducted regarding to different age, gender and weight.

Key words: hypertension, sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency