Higher-quality sleep may reduce risk for mortality
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People with many low-risk sleep factors had reduced all-cause, CV and cancer mortality risk vs. those with one or no low-risk sleep factors, according to data slated for presentation at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.
“We saw a clear dose-response relationship, so the more beneficial factors someone has in terms of having higher quality of sleep, they also have a stepwise lowering of all cause and cardiovascular mortality,” Frank Qian, MD, an internal medicine resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in a press release. “These findings emphasize that just getting enough hours of sleep isn’t sufficient. You really have to have restful sleep and not have much trouble falling and staying asleep.”
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Qian and colleagues analyzed 172,321 participants (mean age, 50 years; 54% women) who participated in the National Health Interview Survey between 2013 and 2018. All participants were given a low-risk sleep pattern score based on five parameters: sleep duration of 7 to 8 hours per day, difficulty falling asleep two times per week or less, trouble staying asleep two times per week or less, no use of sleep medication and feeling rested after waking up at least five times per week.
The researchers used a flexible parametric Royston-Parmar proportional-hazards model to estimate life expectancy in individuals aged 30 years based on sleep pattern score.
During a mean follow-up of 4.3 years, 8,681 participants died, of whom 2,610 died from CVD and 2,052 died from cancer, according to the researchers.
Compared with those who had one or no low-risk sleep factors, those who had five had reduced risk for all-cause mortality (HR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.63-0.77), CVD mortality (HR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.67-0.93), cancer mortality (HR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.66-0.98) and mortality not related to CVD or cancer (HR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.52-0.69), Qian and colleagues found.
“If people have all these ideal sleep behaviors, they are more likely to live longer,” Qian said in the release. “So, if we can improve sleep overall, and identifying sleep disorders is especially important, we may be able to prevent some of this premature mortality.”
The researchers estimated that 7.9% (95% CI, 5.5-10.4) of the population-attributable risk for all-cause mortality in the cohort was from suboptimal sleep patterns.
Life expectancy at age 30 years was greater for those with five low-risk sleep factors compared with those with one or no low-risk sleep factors by 4.7 years in men and by 2.4 years in women, according to the researchers.
“Even from a young age, if people can develop these good sleep habits of getting enough sleep, making sure they are sleeping without too many distractions and have good sleep hygiene overall, it can greatly benefit their overall long-term health,” Qian said in the release. “It’s important for younger people to understand that a lot of health behaviors are cumulative over time. Just like we like to say, ‘It’s never too late to exercise or stop smoking,’ it’s also never too early. And we should be talking about and assessing sleep more often in the clinical setting.”
Editor’s Note: This article was modified on Feb. 23, 2023 to reflect updates to the data.
Reference:
- Getting good sleep could add years to your life. https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2023/02/22/21/35/Getting-Good-Sleep-Could-Add-Years-to-Your-Life. Published Feb. 23, 2023. Accessed Feb. 23, 2023.
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Qian F, et al. Abstract 1092-03. Presented at: American College of Cardiology Scientific Session; March 4-6, 2023; New Orleans (hybrid meeting).
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