Getting Quality Sleep, and the Right Amount, Can Offset Genetic Susceptibility for Heart Disease and Stroke Risk

A new study suggests that regularly getting a good night’s sleep isn’t just a helpful overall health recommendation but is also an essential way to keep risk for heart disease and stroke down.

The paper, published in the European Journal of Cardiology, included more than 300,000 participants initially free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) from UK Biobank. The researchers created a healthy sleep score that identified five sleep factors: early chronotype, sleeping 7-8 hours per day, never/rarely insomnia, no snoring, and no frequent excessive daytime sleepiness. The authors also calculated genetic risk scores for coronary heart disease or stroke. Median follow-up was 8.5 years.

UK Biobank study with ~385,000 individuals showed that healthy sleep pattern was associated w ⬇️ risks of coronary heart disease & stroke
among participants with low, intermediate, or high genetic risk https://t.co/VDP8CcO3ct

@escardio #EHJ #ESCYoung #cardiotwitter @TomLuscher pic.twitter.com/g7JsPKTEa4

— European Society of Cardiology Journals (@ESC_Journals) December 19, 2019

According to the results, there were 7,280 documented cases of incident CVD (4,667 coronary heart disease and 2,650 stroke) cases. Participants with a sleep score of 5 had a 35% reduced risk for CVD, a 34% reduced risk for coronary heart disease, and a 34% reduced risk for stroke when compared to participants with a score of 0-1. They also reported that about 10% of the cardiovascular events in the cohort were linked to poor sleep patterns, and those with poor sleep patterns and high genetic risk also showed the highest risk for coronary heart disease and stroke. A press release accompanying the study out of the University of Tulane, added that a person with a high genetic risk but health sleep patterns had a 2.1-fold increased risk for heart disease and a 1.3-fold greater risk for stroke compared to a participant with low genetic risk and a healthy sleep pattern.

A good sleep every day, keeps heart disease away! https://t.co/Lk9HltJlRy

— J Partarrieu (@JPartarrieu) December 18, 2019

“As with other findings from observational studies, our results indicate an association, not a causal relation,” one of the authors said in a press release. “However, these findings may motivate other investigations and, at least, suggest that it is essential to consider overall sleep behaviors when considering a person’s risk of heart disease or stroke.”

http://twitter.com/kk_levine/statuses/1207362040802594816