Background: Epidemiological and observational clinical studies have found that insomnia is a risk factor for stroke and that, accordingly, insomnia is likely to cause changes of stroke-related biomarkers. There is substantial evidence that stroke is closely related to endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is alteration of endothelial dysfunction (CD62E+) and hypertension (angiotensin II and copeptin) biomarkers in patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID).
Methods: The CID patients (N = 54) and the good sleepers (GS, N = 32) were enrolled. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), pre-sleep arousal scale (PSAS) and polysomnography were used to assess their sleep and neuropsychological function. Serum levels of CD62E+, angiotensin II and copeptin were determined using a quantitative sandwich ELISA.
Results: The CID group had higher serum levels of CD62E+, angiotensin II, and copeptin than the GS group. After controlling for sex, age, depression and apnea-hypopnea index, the partial correlation analysis revealed that the levels of CD62E+ and copeptin correlated positively with the PSAS score and negatively with the objective sleep quality. Angiotensin II levels negatively correlated with objective sleep onset latency. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between CD62E+ and angiotensin II. Principal components analysis revealed that CD62E+ and copeptin had a substantial correlation with parameters of subjective and objective sleep.
Conclusion: Patients with CID exhibit endothelial activation, over-activated renin-angiotensin system and increased sympathetic excitability, as indicated by increased serum levels of CD62E+, angiotensin II and copeptin, with linking to poor sleep quality.
Keywords: Angiotensin II; Chronic insomnia disorder; Copeptin; E-selectin; Stroke.
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