, was led by Professor Lu Qi, MD, PhD, who is the HCA Regents
Distinguished Chair and Director, Tulane University Obesity Research Center,
New Orleans, LA, USA. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Key Features of the Study
- 385,292 healthy participants from the UK Biobank
Project were included in the prospective study
- All patients suffering from CVD were excluded from
the study
- The following factors that could influence the
results were taken into account while designing the study:
- Genetic variations called SNPs (single nucleotide
polymorphisms) linked to the development of CVD were studied
- SNPs from blood samples of the participants were
analyzed
- Genetic Risk
Score was developed based on the SNP analysis, which categorized
participants into the following:
- High risk of developing CVD
- Intermediate risk of developing CVD
- Low risk of developing CVD
- Healthy Sleep
Score (HSS) was developed based on the following parameters of the participants:
- HSS ranged
from 0 to 5, which exhibited the following features:
- HSS 5:
Healthiest sleep pattern - Persons had 7-8 hours sound sleep at night,
without snoring, insomnia or daytime sleepiness
- HSS 0:
Least healthiest sleep pattern - Persons experienced disturbed
sleep
- Average follow-up period was 8.5 years
Key Findings of the Study
- 7,280 cases of heart disease and stroke occurred
during the follow-up period
Participants with HSS 5 compared to HSS 0-1 exhibited
the following: - 35 percent reduced risk of CVD
- 34 percent reduced risk of both heart disease and
stroke
- 7 fewer cases of CVD per 1000 people annually
Effects of the following parameters on CVD
were studied: - Group 1:
High Genetic Risk + Unhealthy Sleep Pattern
- Group 2:
Low Genetic Risk + Healthy Sleep Pattern
- Group 3:
High Genetic Risk + Healthy Sleep Pattern
- Group 4:
Low Genetic Risk + Unhealthy Sleep Pattern
Results are indicated below: - Group 1 exhibited 2.5 fold higher risk of heart
disease than Group 2
- Group 1 exhibited 1.5 fold higher risk of stroke
than Group 2
- Group 3 exhibited 2.1 fold higher risk of heart
disease than Group 2
- Group 3 exhibited 1.3 fold higher risk of stroke
than Group 2
- Group 4 exhibited 1.7 fold higher risk of heart
disease than Group 2
- Group 4 exhibited 1.6 fold higher risk of stroke
than Group 2
Interpretation
of the Results
The findings
indicate the following:
- Among
high genetic risk + unhealthy sleep pattern groups, there were 11 more
cases of heart disease and 5 more cases of stroke per 1000 people
annually, compared to low genetic risk + healthy sleep pattern groups
- Healthy
sleep pattern slightly compensated for high genetic risk, with just over 2
fold higher risk of CVD in this group of participants
"We found that a high genetic risk could be partly
offset by a healthy sleep pattern," said Qi.
"In addition, we found that people with low
genetic risk could lose this inherent protection if they had a poor sleep pattern." Limitations of the Study
Some of the major
limitations of the study included the following:
- Unhealthy sleep pattern could be indicative of an
underlying or undetected health condition that increased the risk of CVD
- Sleep patterns were assessed based on
self-reporting by the participants only once at the start of the study
- HSS did not include all sleep-related problems,
including restless leg syndrome
- Majority of the participants were of European
origin, making it difficult to generalize the findings to other
populations
Concluding Remarks
The research team couldn't find the exact mechanism that could
explain the link between sleep patterns and CVD risk. They opined that altered
sleep patterns could disrupt the body's hormonal or metabolic pathways and
circadian rhythm, as well as increase inflammatory
and 'fight or flight' responses, which could influence CVD risk.
Qi concluded:
"As with other findings from observational
studies, our results indicate an association, not a causal relation. 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."
Funding Source
The study was
funded by the NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda,
Maryland, USA.
References : - Sleep Patterns, Genetic Susceptibility, and Incident Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Study of 385,292 UK Biobank Participants - (https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz849)
- Can Good Sleep Patterns Offset Genetic Susceptibility to Heart Disease and Stroke? - (https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Can-good-sleep-patterns-offset-genetic-susceptibility-to-heart-disease-and-stroke)
Source: Medindia