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Aging News & Information
Sleep Disruption Linked to Increased Cardiovascular
Risk
Certain sleep disruptions
such as obstructive sleep apnea known to convey extensive cardiovascular
risk
 March 30, 2007 Senior citizens the most likely
to have sleep problems should be aware that sleep disruption in
seemingly healthy younger adults in a new study has been associated with
increased clotting of the blood, which has been shown to predict heart
disease.
Researchers at the University of California, San
Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine reported the discovery and their
findings were published in the March issue of CHEST, the official
publication of the American College of Chest Physicians.
In previous work, we have found that sleep
disruption was linked to pro-coagulant (i.e, pro-clotting) activity in
patients with sleep apnea, and in patients facing harrowing long-term
stress. Now, we have seen the same pattern of findings even in healthy
normal subjects, said Joel E. Dimsdale, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry
at UCSD.
Full-night polysomnography, a sleep study that
involves recording brain waves and airflow at the nose and mouth, was
performed in 135 men and women, average age 36, who had no history of
sleep disorders.
Through these measurements, a parallel correlation
was found between higher levels of spontaneous sleep disruption and
higher levels of compounds in the blood that serve as markers for
clotting.
Sleep disruption needs to be taken seriously,
said Dimsdale. It is known that certain forms of sleep disruption such
as obstructive sleep apnea convey extensive cardiovascular risk. We now
know that sleep disruption is a potential factor in heart disease even
in the average person.
Editors Notes:
Additional contributors to this study include Paul
J. Mills, Ph.D., and Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D., from the Department of
Psychiatry; Jose S. Loredo, M.D., Department of Medicine; and Loki
Natarajan, Ph.D., Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at
University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and Roland von Kδnel,
M.D., Department of General Internal Medicine, from University Hospital
Berne, Switzerland. The research was funded by a grant from the National
Institutes of Health.
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