Objective To investigate the
association between
hot spring bathing
behavior and
hypertension and understand the
mediation effect of
sleep quality problems on the
association .
Methods A
cross-sectional survey was conducted among
adults aged 30 to 65 living and working around five
hot springs in Guizhou Province, employing a
self -designed
questionnaire on the
health status and
hot spring bathing, and 3 708 qualified
questionnaires were collected. Participants were divided into three groups according to their frequency of
hot spring bathing never, occasionally, and frequently. Stratified via
sex and
sleep quality , the binary
logistic regression model was used to analyze the
association between different
hot spring bathing frequencies and
self -reported
hypertension . Results Significant difference was detected in the
self -reported
hypertension between groups
who never bathe(13.7%),
who occasional bathe(9.4%)and
who frequently bathe(8.5%)among
female participants(χ2=10.460, P=0.005). However, no significant difference was found among different bathing groups in
males . Furthermore,
multivariate analysis showed that compared with no bathing, occasional(OR=0.692)and frequent (OR=0.594)
hot spring bathing were associated with lower
hypertension prevalence among
female population , and
female groups of occasional and frequent bathing with
sleep quality problems had smaller OR(OR=0.571 and 0.406, respectively). After
sleep quality problems were included,
hot spring bathing was still associated with lower
hypertension risk , and the OR values of occasional bathing and frequent bathing groups were 0.723 and 0.611, respectively. The
sleep quality problems of
female population played a partial
mediating role in the
association between
hot spring bathing and
hypertension , and the relative
mediating effects of occasional bathing and frequent bathing with
hypertension were both statistically significant(Zm=-2.022 and -1.995, P < 0.05), which accounted for 34.34% and 30.15% of the total effects, respectively. Conclusion Regular
hot spring bathing may
play an auxiliary
role in the prevention of
hypertension , and it may provide a stronger
protection for
women , and especially those with
sleep quality problems.
Sleep quality problems may explain part of the
association between
hot spring bathing and
hypertension in
female population .