They found a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and heart failure (HF) risk, with both short and long sleep being associated with a higher risk of heart failure than regular sleep. These findings were presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions, April 6-8, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Inadequate sleep is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but the relationship between sleep and heart failure risk has not been well investigated.

Researchers from St. Elizabeth Medical Center and the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in the US conducted this retrospective cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted from 2017 to 2020. We used multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship between heart failure risk and self-reported sleep duration in 9,520 adults. Short sleep was defined as less than 6 hours per night, normal sleep between 6 and 9 hours, and long sleep as 9 or more hours of sleep.

Participants had a mean age of 49.5 (SD, 18.6) years and reported a mean sleep duration of 7.62 (SD, 1.68) hours per night. Overall, 77.2% of participants reported normal sleep, 12.3% long sleep, and 10.4% short sleep.

The development of HF occurred in 3.7%.

After adjusting for age, race, obesity BMI status, history of hypertension, and history of diabetes, the risk of HF was associated with shorter sleep duration (adjusted odds ratio) [aOR]1.70; 95% CI, 1.07-2.70; P =.02), which tended to be associated with longer sleep duration (aOR, 1.53; 95% CI, 0.99-2.38; P =.06) compared to normal sleep.

The main limitation of this study was its reliance on self-reported sleep data.

The study authors wrote, “This large-scale national data interestingly shows a U-shaped association between sleep duration and reduced risk of heart failure with normal sleep duration. Promoting adequate sleep duration. This may be important for preventing heart failure in modern society.”