Insomnia with short sleep duration linked to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular disease

Individuals with insomnia with short sleep duration are at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cerebrovascular disease (CBVD), according to a study.

Researchers used data from the UK Biobank and identified 6,959 and 7,690 participants for incident CVD and CBVD analyses, respectively. The average follow‐up duration was 3.6 years for CVD and 3.4 years for CBVD.

Insomnia was self‐reported, while habitual sleep duration was measured using an accelerometer. Short sleep duration was defined as a nightly sleep duration below the sample median (<7.3 hours), while insomnia was a self‐report of usually vs never/rarely/sometimes having difficulty falling or staying asleep. Participants were grouped into four, based on the presence or absence of short sleep duration (Yes/No) and insomnia symptoms (Yes/No).

Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models showed that compared with normal sleepers with normal sleep duration, participants with insomnia with short sleep duration had a 39-percent higher risk of incident CVD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.39, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.11–1.74) and incident CBVD (HR, 1.76, 95 percent CI, 1.29–2.39).

Meanwhile, the risk for both outcomes was not elevated among participants with insomnia with normal sleep duration or normal sleepers with short sleep duration.

The findings highlight the importance of objective sleep assessment in patients with insomnia, which may lead to more personalized approaches to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk reductions.