Insomnia and the risk of acute myocardial infarction

January 01, 0001

Insomnia and the risk of acute myocardial infarction

These Norwegian researchers looked at insomnia and the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) They performed a large, population-based study of 52 610 patients were followed over for 11.8 years. Over 2200 incident AMIs occurred over the study. The authors adjusted for a variety of factors including age, sex, marital status, education, shift work, blood pressure, lipids, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

The researchers found: "Difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep and having a feeling of nonrestorative sleep were associated with a moderate increase in AMI risk. The multiadjusted hazard ratios for AMI were 1.45 for people with difficulties initiating sleep almost every night, 1.30 for those with difficulties maintaining sleep almost every night, and 1.27 for those with a feeling of nonrestorative sleep more than once a week compared with people who never experienced these sleep difficulties. When we combined the symptoms, a dose-dependent association was seen between the number of insomnia symptoms and AMI risk. Alternative multivariable models and different sensitivity analyses suggest that the results were robust, especially concerning difficulties initiating sleep."

The researchers concluded: "Insomnia is associated with a moderately increased risk for AMI."

Insomnia was linked with risk of acute myocardial infarction, though other confounders such as mood disorders could be confounders

For the full abstract, click here.

Circulation 124(19):2073-2081, 8 November 2011 © 2011 American Heart Association, Inc.
Insomnia and the Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction. Lars E. Laugsand, Lars J. Vatten, Carl Platou, Imre Janszky. Correspondence to Lars Erik Laugsand: lars.e.laugsand@ntnu.no

Category: K. Circulatory. Keywords: insomnia, coronary artery disease, acute myocardial infarction, AMI, risk, epidemiologic study, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Paul Schaefer, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 25 November 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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