Sleep deprivation in midlife increases women’s risk of cardiovascular disease

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Sleep deprivation in midlife may be associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in women, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Circulation journal.¹

The Woman Who Can’t Sleep / Terovesalainen – Stock.adobe.com

Up to 50% of women report suffering from sleep problems in midlife, and CVD is the leading cause of death among women.

Important points

The study tracked the sleep patterns of middle-aged women over 22 years and provides evidence supporting the link between sleep and heart health.

Women with persistently short sleep duration or consistently high levels of insomnia are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, with women with insomnia having a lower sleep duration (1.51 times) compared to women with mild symptoms. The risk was higher (1.71 times).

The findings highlight the importance of considering sleep patterns when assessing women’s risk of heart disease.

Midlife (usually between the ages of 40 and 65), especially for women, is a critical time for both heart health and sleep, especially during menopause. Women often experience heart risks earlier during menopause.

Because the link between long-term sleep problems in midlife and heart disease risk in women is still unclear, the study researchers believe that changes in sleep patterns in midlife are associated with heart-related problems later in life. I investigated whether it was possible.

In a prospective cohort, participants in the SWAN study (National Study of Women’s Health) had their sleep monitored up to 16 times over a 22-year period.

Since 1996, up to 2,964 participants aged 42 to 52 years from seven sites in the United States have participated in annual trials.

Women were either premenopausal or perimenopausal, were not using hormone therapy, and did not have CVD.

Women participating in the SWAN study completed questionnaires about insomnia symptoms, sleep duration, vasomotor symptoms, and depression over 16 visits.

The researchers used group-based trajectory modeling to map sleep patterns (insomnia and sleep duration).

We then used a Cox proportional hazards model to test how these sleep trajectories were associated with CVD, taking into account factors such as site, age, race, education, and CVD risk factors.

Read more: Inequalities in cardiovascular care worsen outcomes for women with atrial fibrillation

After more than 20 years of research, researchers identified four patterns of insomnia symptoms in women: mild symptoms (39%), decreased moderate symptoms (19%), and increased mild symptoms (19%). 20%), persistent high symptoms (23%).

Women with consistently high levels of insomnia had a 1.71 times higher risk of cardiovascular disease than women with mild symptoms.

Three patterns of sleep duration were evident: persistently short (approximately 5 hours, 15%), moderate (approximately 6 hours, 55%), and moderate to long (approximately 8 hours, 30%). became.

Women with short sleep duration had a 1.51 times higher risk of CVD.

People with both persistent insomnia and short sleep have a 1.75 times higher risk of CVD. Even after adjusting for other factors such as vasomotor symptoms, snoring, and depression, insomnia still showed an association with cardiovascular disease.

Among its many strengths, one of the main strengths of this study lies in its comprehensive approach of tracking sleep patterns across 16 assessments over 20 years of midlife.

Unlike previous studies, which have studied the association between sleep and heart risk at one point in time, this study looked at the entire midlife period and specifically investigated the relationship between chronic sleep deprivation and cardiovascular disease risk in older women. This provides important insight into the relationship between

This study also has some limitations, such as potentially limiting conclusions about longer sleep in the moderate-to-long sleep group (approximately 7.70 hours).

Additionally, the researchers considered insomnia and sleep duration in this study, rather than other aspects of sleep such as timing or regularity.

Future research is encouraged to investigate both time and regularity.

This 20-year study of middle-aged women found that persistent sleep disturbances, especially when combined with persistent sleep deprivation, increased the risk of heart disease by 70% to 75%. Ta.

These results highlight the need to include sleep patterns when assessing women’s heart disease risk and highlight how long-term sleep deprivation can affect heart health. .

Read more: Cardiology Resource Center

This article was originally published on Managed Healthcare Executive.