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Less sleep may increase mortality risk in adults with metabolic syndrome
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In individuals with metabolic syndrome, short sleep duration during a 1-night sleep lab was associated with increased risk of mortality vs. those with longer sleep duration, according to recent findings.
“Although there is a clear association between the [metabolic syndrome] and sleep-disordered breathing, the association of sleep duration with [metabolic syndrome] and its role in predicting mortality is still poorly understood,” Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, PhD, CBSM, of the Sleep Research and Treatment Center at Penn State University College of Medicine and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote. “Sleep duration has been shown to be associated with specific cardiometabolic risk factors and mortality; however, studies examining [metabolic syndrome] have reported modest and inconsistent effects.”
Metabolic syndrome was defined as three or more of the following risk factors: obesity (BMI 30 kg/m2) and elevated levels of total cholesterol ( 200 mg/dL), triglycerides ( 150 mg/dL), fasting glucose ( 100 mg/dL) and BP ( 130/85 mm Hg).
Researchers evaluated 1,344 participants in a sleep laboratory for 1 night with sound-attenuated and light- and temperature-controlled rooms and were monitored using 16-channel polysomnography.
During 16.6 years of follow-up, 22% of participants died.
Participants who had metabolic syndrome were more likely to die of CVD or stroke if they had less than 6 hours of sleep in the lab (HR = 2.1; 95% CI, 1.39-3.16) compared with those who had 6 hours of sleep or more (HR = 1.49; 95% CI, 0.75-2.97). Similar results were seen for all-cause mortality (HR for < 6 hours of sleep = 1.99; 95% CI, 1.53-2.59; HR for 6 hours of sleep = 1.29; 95% CI, 0.89-1.87).
“Given the high prevalence of the [metabolic syndrome] in the general population and the need to more accurately predict its prognosis, the introduction of novel, modifiable factors should become the target of public health policy,” the researchers wrote. “Individuals with [metabolic syndrome] who demonstrate objective short sleep duration may suffer from greater central autonomic and metabolic dysregulation and be at greater risk of mortality. Finally, our findings indicate that individuals with the [metabolic syndrome], particularly those reporting symptoms of [sleep-disordered breathing] in order to rule out the condition, and those reporting symptoms of insomnia in order to quantify the degree of objective sleep duration, should undergo a sleep study.” – by Cassie Homer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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