DLH Researchers Co-Authors of Article Highlighted as NIEHS ‘Paper of the Month’

Environmental Factor, NIEHS’ monthly online newsletter, has highlighted an article co-authored by DLH researchers W. Braxton Jackson and John McGrath as a ‘paper of the month’. Titled “Multiple, objectively measured sleep dimensions including hypoxic burden and chronic kidney disease: findings from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis,” the study examines the association between multiple sleep dimensions and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The researchers found that short sleep and apnea-specific hypoxia (the lack of adequate oxygen that results from apnea) were associated with CKD within a multi-ethnic population. The literature had lacked such a precise examination of the issues within a racially and ethnically diverse population. Filling this research gap was important, illustrated by the finding that sleep disturbance was twice as prevalent among African American study participants with CKD than white participants.

The authors examined data from 1895 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, all of whom had completed in-home polysomnography, wrist actigraphy, and a sleep questionnaire. The sleep deficiencies identified by the researchers as associated with CKD may be worsening other known risk factors, such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, and identifying two specific sleep disturbances may help clinicians tailor their treatment plans for patients with CKD.

More information is available via PubMed.