Sleep deprivation and poor sleep in midlife can lead to higher risk of cardiovascular disease among women. According to a study published by the American Heart Association’s Circulation Journal, up to 50% of women have reported that they struggle with sleep problems in midlife and Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of mortality.
Midlife is typically the age between 40 to 65 and is usual for heart health and sleep. Especially, during menopause women often experience heart attack risks. During menopause, women often experience heart risks soon.
The Study
The study's researchers examined whether midlife sleep pattern alterations could be linked to heart problems in later life. Long-term sleep issues in middle age and women's risk of heart disease are unknown, though.
Participants in the SWAN (Study of Women's Health Across the Nation) prospective cohort had their sleep tracked up to 16 times over a 22-year period.
Up to 2,964 people, aged 42 to 52, from seven U.S. sites took part in the annual exams starting in 1996.
The women were free of cardiovascular disease, not on hormone medication, and in the premenopausal or early perimenopausal stages.
Women in the SWAN research completed questionnaires regarding sadness, vasomotor symptoms, sleep duration, and symptoms of insomnia over the course of more than 16 visits. Researchers mapped sleep patterns (duration and insomnia) using group-based trajectory modelling.
The relationship between these sleep trajectories and CVD was then examined using Cox proportional hazards models, which took into account variables such as site, age, race, education, and risk factors for CVD.
Four types of women's insomnia symptoms were found by researchers after more than 20 years of review: low symptoms (39%), moderate symptoms declining (19%), low symptoms rising (20%), and chronic high symptoms (23%).
Women with consistently high insomnia had a 1.71 times higher risk of CVD compared to those with low symptoms. Sleep duration revealed three patterns: persistently short (5 hours, 15%), moderate (6 hours, 55%), and moderate to long (8 hours, 30%).
Women with persistent short sleep had a 1.51 times higher CVD risk. Those with both persistent high insomnia and short sleep faced a 1.75 times higher CVD risk. Adjustments for other factors like vasomotor symptoms, snoring, or depression still showed a connection between insomnia and CVD.
Among many strengths, one major strength of this study lies in tracking sleep patterns across 16 assessments over two decades in midlife, a comprehensive approach.
Unlike previous studies where sleep's link to heart risk was studied at one point in time, this one spans the entire midlife, providing crucial insights into chronic poor sleep's connection to cardiovascular disease risk, especially in older women.
Limitations
This study also has some limitations including the group with moderate to long sleep (about 7.70 hours) may limit conclusions about longer sleep. In addition, researchers considered insomnia and sleep duration in this study, not other sleep aspects like timing and regularity.
It’s encouraged in future studies to explore both time and regularity.
This two-decade study on midlife women revealed that having ongoing trouble sleeping, especially when combined with consistently short sleep, increased the risk of heart disease by 70% to 75%.
These results highlight the need to include sleep patterns in assessing heart disease risk for women and emphasise how long-term poor sleep can impact heart health.