A new study shows that middle-aged and elderly adults who sleep well are less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases and have a leakage , compared to those who do not maintain a good quality of sleep. The findings were published on Tuesday (23) in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open.
To carry out the study, researchers used data collected between 2008 and 2019 from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort, an ongoing prospective study in Shiyan, China. For the current sample, the team analyzed 15,306 people with an average age of 66 years, 58% female and 42% male. According to the authors, around 35.8% of participants had unfavorable sleep patterns, while 25.8% maintained a good quality of sleep.
The researchers found 3,669 documented cases of cardiovascular disease, including 2,986 cases of coronary heart disease and 683 cases of stroke, during an average follow-up period of almost 5 years.
Sleep pattern was classified as favorable or unfavorable according to information provided by cohort participants, including bedtime, sleep duration and quality, and midday nap. Polygenic risk scores were also measured [interação de múltiplos genes e fatores ambientais] for coronary heart disease and stroke.
Participants included people with complete sleep information in the baseline survey from 2008 to 2010 and in the first follow-up survey in 2013. People who had no history of cardiovascular disease or cancer were prospectively evaluated from 2013 to 2018. For the survey current, the researchers carried out the analysis in November 2023.
According to the study, people who had a favorable sleep pattern, that is, a good quality of sleep, had a significantly lower risk of developing new cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart disease and stroke during the follow-up period, compared to those who had a persistently unfavorable sleep pattern. The researchers said that genetic risk for cardiovascular disease did not influence the study results.
Relationship between sleep and cardiovascular diseases
Previous research has already demonstrated a relationship between sleep quality and cardiovascular health. One European study done with 9,309 participants, for example, indicated that healthy sleep patterns over a period of 2 to 5 years were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease, but not stroke.
However, the researchers noted that this study looked at people in middle age who adjusted their sleep patterns around their work schedules, rather than naturally. Furthermore, they point out that most existing studies on the topic only collected data once, which may not adequately reflect the relationship between sleep and cardiovascular diseases, since sleep habits can change over time.
“To fill the evidence gap, we collected sleep information at two time points approximately five years apart and prospectively explored the long-term results of changes in sleep patterns on the subsequent incidence of outcomes. [de doenças cardiovasculares] among middle-aged and older Chinese retirees,” the study authors wrote.
“We further investigated how five-year changes in sleep patterns interact and combine with genetic variants related to [doenças cardiovasculares] for the risk of outcome [de doenças cardiovasculares]”.
The authors of the recent study note that more research is needed to investigate and confirm the relationship between sleep quality and cardiovascular risks in older people with natural sleep patterns. The researchers also point out that other factors, such as a healthy lifestyle and genetics, are also associated with better cardiovascular health.
Source: CNN Brasil
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