Sleep patterns can indicate cardiovascular risks
How important Sleep for our health has already been proven by numerous studies. In a current research work it has now been shown that only the sleep duration already a meaningful indicator Prognosis of cardiovascular diseases is. If other sleep parameters are taken into account, the prognosis becomes correspondingly more precise.
The new study examined the extent to which Sleep to assess cardiovascular disease risk can serve. It has been shown that the risk prognosis is significantly improved by including sleep behavior. The corresponding study results are in the “Journal of the American Heart Association” released.
Sleep is an important health factor
Our sleep affects health in many ways, with the focus usually being on the duration of sleep. Too little, but also too much sleep was already included in previous studies negative health effects related.
How much sleep optimally protects against diseases, has now been extensively studied. Under no circumstances should it be less than five hours and more than nine hours. In previous studies, mostly one Sleep duration of seven hours as ideal determined.
Sleep as an indicator of cardiovascular risk
The research team at dr Nour Makarem of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health has now based on the data of participants of the MESA sleep study examines the extent to which sleep duration and other sleep parameters can contribute to determining cardiovascular risk.
Both 1,920 participants in middle to old age there were 95 cardiovascular diseases and 93 new cases occurred in the mean follow-up period of 4.4 years.
In terms of sleep behavior, the researchers found that 63 percent of the participants slept less than seven hours a night and 30 percent less than six hours. For 39 percent, the duration of sleep was very variable and the same was true for 25 percent with regard to the time of sleep.
In addition, 14 percent had excessive daytime sleepiness to fight and and 36 percent complained of strong sleep disturbance symptoms, reports the team. And 47 percent are moderate to severe sleep apnea (breathing pauses in sleep) been affected.
Four new valuation approaches formed
Based on the sleep characteristics, the researchers formed four approaches to risk assessment. These included:
- sleep duration;
- sleep characteristics such as sleep duration, insomnia, daytime sleepiness and obstructive sleep apnea, which studies have already identified as cardiovascular risk factors;
- Sleep characteristics associated with cardiovascular disease in the MESA study, such as sleep duration and efficiency, daytime sleepiness, and obstructive sleep apnea;
- all sleep characteristics of the third category plus sleep regularity.
- Nour Makarem, Cecilia Castro‐Diehl, Marie‐Pierre St‐Onge, Susan Redline, Steven Shea, Donald Lloyd‐Jones, Hongyan Ning, Brooke Aggarwal: Redefining Cardiovascular Health to Include Sleep: Prospective Associations With Cardiovascular Disease in the MESA Sleep Study: in: Journal of the American Heart Association (published 10/19/2022), ahajournals.org
- Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health: Sleep as a New Eighth Measure of Cardiovascular Health (published 10/19/2022), publichealth.columbia.edu
The research team then analyzed the associations of these four assessment approaches with the Occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and checked their predictive power in comparison to the key figures of the “Life’s Simple 7” (LS7) developed by the American Heart Association.
Associations with disease risk
The data analysis showed that the participants with the best values in the four groups and in the LS7 values with a um up to 80 percent were less likely to have cardiovascular disease, the researchers report.
However, the LS7 value Not been significantly associated with the onset of cardiovascular disease. According to the experts, it was different for the duration of sleep and the extended 4th approach to risk assessment, where the best values with a clearly reduced risk of new cardiovascular diseases were connected.
Both cardiovascular health scores that only the sleep duration considered, as well as cardiovascular health values that multiple sleep parameters (sleep duration, efficiency and regularity, daytime sleepiness and sleep disturbances) were therefore predictive of future cardiovascular disease, the team reports.
Consider sleep as a risk indicator
“Our results show that sleep is an essential part of cardiovascular health”like that dr Nour Makarem in a press release to the study results. And even an approach that only includes sleep duration – the most commonly measured aspect of sleep health – is suitable for predicting cardiovascular risk.
In the opinion of the researchers, sleeping behavior should therefore be taken into account as a matter of urgency when assessing cardiovascular risk.
“Healthcare providers should assess their patients’ sleep habits, discuss sleep-related issues, and educate patients on the importance of prioritizing sleep in the fight against cardiovascular disease.”, sums up Makarem. (fp)
Author and source information
This text corresponds to the requirements of medical specialist literature, medical guidelines and current studies and has been checked by medical professionals.
Sources:
Important NOTE:
This article contains general advice only and should not be used for self-diagnosis or treatment. He can not substitute a visit at the doctor.