Review Article

Abnormal Sleep Duration as Predictor for Cardiovascular Diseases: A Systematic Review of Prospective Studies

Table 2

Association between sleep duration and cardiovascular diseases.

No.AuthorsSleep categoryNormal sleep durationOutcome assessedIncident of CVD and hazard ratio (HR)/odds ratio (OR)ConclusionAdjusted variables

1Song et al. [37]≤5, 6, 7, 8, and ≥9 hours7 hoursMyocardial infarctionThe number of cases of MI in those who slept ≤5 h was 40 out of 6736 (0.59%) and 10 out of 1641 (0.61%) for those who slept ≥9 hours. HR of MI in participants who slept ≤5 hours was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.60-1.30) and ≥9 hours was 1.12 (95% CI: 0.58-2.16).There was no significant association between sleep duration and myocardial infarction.Age, sex, family per member monthly income, education level, marital status, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia
2Girschik et al. [22]<6, 6-7.9, 8-9.9, and ≥10 hours6-7.9 hoursHypertension164 participants developed hypertension (9.56%). OR for new-onset hypertension was 1.71 (95% CI: 1.01-2.89) with short sleep hours.Short sleep duration was independently associated with the development of hypertension among the middle-aged and elderly.Age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol, income, regular exercise, obesity, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, and mean arterial pressure
3Mallinson et al. [23]≤5, 6, 7, 8, and ≥9 hours7 hoursHypertension12,732 out of 32,127 participants developed hypertension. Short duration of sleep (≤5 h) was associated with increased hypertension in women (HR 1.27) (95% CI: 1.02-1.58) and participants aged <60 years (HR 1.11) (95% CI: 1.02-1.21).Short sleep duration was associated with increased hypertension in women and participants aged <60 years.Age, resting heart rate, body mass index, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, salt intake, history of diabetes and hyperlipidemia, antidiabetic and cholesterol-lowering medication, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and family history of hypertension
4Yadav et al. [24]≤4.9, 5-5.9, 6-6.9, 7-7.9, and ≥8 hours7-7.9 hoursHypertension24.8% () developed hypertension. Among the younger age group 40-55 years, short sleep was associated with higher risk of hypertension (OR: 3.15) (95% CI: 1.04-9.54).Short sleep duration was associated with higher risk of hypertension among participants with younger age (40-55 years old). No association was found among participants with older age (55-70 years old).Sex, baseline blood pressure, personality, BMI, diabetes mellitus, physical exercise, smoking, drinking, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-c, LDL-c, hs-CRP, uric acid
4Song et al. [37]≤5, 6, 7, 8, and ≥9 hours7 hoursMyocardial infarctionThe number of cases of MI in those who slept ≤5 h was 40 out of 6736 (0.59%) and 10 out of 1641 (0.61%) for those who slept ≥9 hours. HR of MI in participants who slept ≤5 hours was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.60-1.30) and that in participants who slept ≥9 hours was 1.12 (95% CI: 0.58-2.16).There was no significant association between sleep duration and myocardial infarction.Age, sex, family per member monthly income, education level, marital status, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia
5Wang et al. [25]<7, 7-<8, 8-<9, 9-<10, and ≥10 hours7-<8 hoursCoronary heart disease (nonfatal MI, stable angina, unstable angina, unspecified CHD, or CHD death)There are a total of 2058 incidents of CHD. There are 133 CHD incidents out of 1012 participants who slept for ≥10 h. The HR of CHD incidence for those who slept ≥10 h was 1.33 (95% CI: 1.1-1.62).Longer sleep duration was associated with a higher risk of CHD incidence.Age, sex, BMI, education, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, family history of CHD, and sleep duration
6Song et al. [31]<6, 6, 7, 8, and ≥9 hours7 hoursHeart failureThere were 199 incident HF cases from 3723 men. Heart failure occurred in 25 patients out of 348 patients in those who reportedly slept less than 6 hours with HR 1.26 (95% CI: 0.77-20.5) after adjusting several factors.Short sleep duration (<6 hours) in men was associated with high risk of developing heart failure.Age, type of work, body mass index, smoking, diabetes mellitus, physical activity, treated hypertension, breathlessness, preexisting myocardial infarction, stroke, poor health
7Lao et al. [27]≤5, 6, 7, 8, and ≥9 hours7 hoursAtrial fibrillation322 cases (0.37%) of atrial fibrillation occurred. The short sleep duration (≤6 h) HR for atrial fibrillation was 1.07 (95% CI: 0.75-1.53) and long sleep duration (≥8 h) HR for atrial fibrillation was 1.50 (95% CI: 1.07-2.10).Long sleep duration may be a potential predictor for the incident of atrial fibrillation.Age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, snoring, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, myocardial infarction, uric acid, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein
8Wang et al. [29]<6 hours and normal sleep, insomnia/poor sleep or not>6 hoursCardiovascular disease (first event of nonfatal or fatal myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, revascularization procedure, or stroke)14.1% of the participants reported insomnia/poor sleep, of which 50.3% slept <6 h. There are 818 CVD events. There was a higher risk of incident CVD in the insomnia/poor sleep with short sleep group HR: 1.29 (95% CI: 1.00-1.66), but sleep duration only was not associated with higher incidence of CVD.Insomnia/poor sleep with short sleep duration was associated with higher risk of CVD incident.Propensity score adjusted
9Yang et al. [26]<6, 6-8, and >8 hours6-8 hoursCoronary heart disease2740 participants (4.52%) developed coronary heart disease. Participants in the group of <6 h sleep were significantly associated with an increased risk of CHD with HR 1.13 (95% CI: 0.98-1.26). No significant association in >8 h.Shorter sleep duration was associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease.Age, sex, educational level, marital status, alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, vegetable intake, fruit intake, physical activity in leisure time, physical activity in work, family history of cardiovascular disease, body mass index, total cholesterol, fasting glucose, triglyceride levels, and systolic blood pressure
10Wannamethee et al. [28]Normal stable (7.4 to 7.5 hours), normal decreasing (7.0 to 5.5 hours), low increasing (4.9 to 6.9 hours), and low stable (4.2 to 4.9 hours)7.4 to 7.5 hoursCardiovascular events (atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, and stroke)2406 participants had CVE. Compared with the normal stable pattern and adjusting for potential confounders, a low-increasing pattern was associated with increased risk of first CVEs (hazard ratio (HR): 1.22; 95% CI: 1.04-1.43), a normal-decreasing pattern was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.15-1.57), and the low-stable pattern was associated with the highest risk of CVEs (HR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.05-2.05) and death (HR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.07-2.10).The low-stable pattern sleep was associated with the highest risk to develop CVE, followed by low-increasing pattern sleep.Age, sex, marital status, occupation, mean income, educational attainment, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption status, salt intake, family history of stroke, MI, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, snoring frequency, sleep duration in 2010, antihypertensive use, hypoglycemic use, use of agents lowering lipid levels, body mass index, fasting blood glucose level, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and estimated glomerular filtration rate

CHD = coronary heart disease; CI = confidence interval; CVD = cardiovascular disease; CVE = cardiovascular event; h = hours; HDL-c = high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; hs-CRP = high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; LDL-c = low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.