More Research Ties Sleep Problems to Cardiac Outcomes

According to researchers at the University of Toronto, minimizing sleep disorders following coronary angioplasty is a good way to stay alive longer.

As summarized in a recent article titled “Symptoms of Disturbed Sleep Predict Major Adverse Cardiac Events After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention“, patients successfully treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), who reported the most symptoms associated with poor sleep, had a 67% incidence of heart attack—undergoing repeat vascularization, or dying within 4 years of the procedure. Just 12% who reported no sleep disturbances suffered the same fate.

Multivariate analysis revealed that each additional symptom of disturbed sleep (on a 10-symptom scale) was associated with a hazard ratio for adverse cardiac events of 1.2 (P=0.001), and that this association was largely driven by the link between sleep problems and repeat revascularization (repeat PCI hazard ratio, 1.9, P=0.003, CABG hazard ratio 1.5, P=0.001), stated researcher Steven E. Miner, MD, of the University of Toronto.

“The absolute attributable risk is high,” the researchers wrote. “Further studies are needed to determine which sleep disorders are most associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and if interventions aimed at improving sleep will improve cardiac outcomes after PCI.”

MedPage reporter Salynn Boyles points out that disturbed sleep is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). “What we don’t have is randomized trials to tell us what it is about disturbed sleep that influences cardiovascular outcomes, and most of the studies that have been done have been in low-risk populations,” .