# Nocturnal Hypertension and Sleep

> **NIH NIH K23** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $191,024

## Abstract

My overall career goal is to establish an independent program of research focusing on identifying novel
interventions to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with nocturnal hypertension (HTN), defined as
having elevated blood pressure (BP) during sleep on 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM). Training
plan: In the K23 Career Development Award application, I will obtain training in four areas in order to build
an independent program of research with an expertise in HTN and sleep: Module 1: Research Methodology in
HTN including Clinical Trials, Module 2: Clinical and Research Training in Sleep including Clinical Trials,
Module 3: Quantitative Methodologies and Advanced Statistics in HTN, and Module 4: Research
Dissemination and Transition to Independence. I have assembled a multidisciplinary team of senior
investigators with expertise in HTN (Drs. Daichi Shimbo, Joseph Schwartz, and Paul Muntner), sleep research
(Drs. Ari Shechter and Martica Hall), biostatistics (Dr. Schwartz), and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (Drs.
Schwartz and Shechter) who will meet regularly with me to ensure that I am progressing towards my research
and training goals, and overall career development. Research plan: Individuals with higher sleep BP levels
are at an increased risk of target organ damage and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Short sleep
duration (SSD) defined as sleeping less than 7 hours per night, occurs in over 30% of adults, and is associated
with an increased risk for CVD. Cross-sectional studies have shown that SSD is associated with elevated sleep
BP levels which may be due to increased sympathetic activity and reduced parasympathetic activity. I will
conduct a RCT to determine the effect of an 8-week sleep extension intervention on sleep BP as assessed on
24-hour ABPM among 66 individuals with SSD. Participants will be randomized to sleep extension (a validated
sleep hygiene education intervention), aiming to increase sleep duration by up to 1 hour over 8 weeks as
assessed by wrist actigraphy (n=33) vs. a control condition (education on sleep physiology; n=33). Participants
will have 24-hour ABPM and standardized assessment of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity during 24-
hour ABPM at baseline and 8 weeks later. I will determine whether sleep extension is associated with a
reduction in mean sleep systolic BP, and secondarily, mean sleep diastolic BP (Primary Aim). I will examine
whether sleep extension is associated with a reduction in sympathetic activity and an increase in
parasympathetic activity from baseline to 8 weeks (Secondary Aim 1). The degree to which a reduction in
mean sleep systolic BP with the sleep extension intervention is explained by a reduction in sympathetic and
parasympathetic activity will also be examined (Secondary Aim 2). The analyses for the Primary Aim will also
be stratified by nocturnal HTN and poor sleep quality status at baseline (Exploratory Aim). This study will
provide a strong foundation f...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10434815
- **Project number:** 5K23HL141682-04
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Marwah Abdalla
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $191,024
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10434815

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10434815, Nocturnal Hypertension and Sleep (5K23HL141682-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10434815. Licensed CC0.

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