Association Between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Incident Purchase of Hypnotic Drugs in Adults: The HUNT Study

Objective: To assess whether cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with first purchase of a prescribed hypnotic drug in the adult population.Methods: A total of 34,357 adult participants (53.9% women) with a mean age of 51.5 years (SD 15.6 years) from the third Trondelag Health Study (HUNT) of 2006 to 2008 were observed until January 1, 2018. Cardiorespiratory fitness was estimated from a validated nonexercise algorithm. Data on first hypnotics prescription were obtained through linkage to the National Norwegian Prescription Data-base. Cox regression with 95% CIs was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs).Results: After 304,899 person-years of follow-up, 5791 participants had their first registered purchase of prescribed hypnotics, corresponding to an incidence rate of 1.90 per 100 person-years. Each 1emetabolic equivalent of task increase in CRF was significantly associated with 5% (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.91 to 0.99; P=.02) and 4% (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.00; P=.046) risk reduction for incident use of hypnotics in men and women, respectively. When CRF was categorized into tertiles with lowest CRF as the reference group, reduced risk was 13% (HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79 to 0.96; P=.006) and 15% (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77 to 0.95; P=.003) for men in the intermediate and highest CRF category, respectively. In women with highest CRF, the reduced risk was 5% (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.87 to 1.03; P=.22). Conclusion: Cardiorespiratory fitness in adulthood is associated with incident purchase of prescrip-tion medication commonly used for sleep problems. These findings suggest that fitness should be considered a target for preventing sleep problems in adults.(c) 2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. center dot Mayo Clin Proc. 2023;98(2):229-238

Automated summary

This study aimed to assess the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and the first purchase of prescribed hypnotic drugs. The findings showed that an increase in cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a reduced risk of incident use of hypnotics in both men and women. These findings suggest that fitness should be considered as a target for preventing sleep problems in adults.