Nearly half of heart disease patients have insomnia, study reveals

Insomnia was found to be the third biggest risk factor for recurrent major heart problems

The patients in the study had an average age of 62 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Almost half of patients with heart disease also suffer from insomnia, a new study has found.

The link between insomnia and the risk of recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) was found to be “significant”, even when the analysis was adjusted to account for the patients’ other physical and mental health conditions.

Study authors said 16 per cent of these cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes, might have been avoided if none of the participants had insomnia.

A Norwegian university analysed data of 1,068 heart disease patients, and found that 45 per cent of them have had problems falling and staying asleep through the night. Some 24 per cent of them had been using sleep aid medication in the week up to the analysis.

The patients – of which just 21 per cent were women – had an average age of 62. The study was conducted an average of 16 months after the patients suffered a heart attack and/or had an operation to open their blocked arteries.

Insomnia was found to account for 16 per cent of recurrent MACE – meaning it is the third biggest risk factor after smoking (27 per cent) and low physical activity (21 per cent).

MACE includes death, and hospitalisation for cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks, blocked arteries needing revascularisation, stroke, or heart failure. During an average follow-up of 4.2 years, a total of 364 major adverse cardiovascular events occurred in 225 patients.

Compared to those without insomnia, the relative risk of recurrent MACE in patients with insomnia was 1.62 – after adjusting for age and sex – which means they have a 62 per cent higher chance of suffering another heart issue.

The relative risk was 1.49 (49 per cent higher) after additional adjustment for coronary risk factors, and 1.48 (48 per cent higher) after also adjusting for co-existing health conditions.

Lars Frojd, the study’s lead author and a medical student at the University of Oslo, said: “Sleep problems are linked to mental health issues, but our study found that insomnia was still significantly associated with heart events even after accounting for symptoms of anxiety and depression.

“The findings suggest that heart patients should be assessed for insomnia and offered appropriate management.”

Mr Frojd added: “This means that 16 per cent of recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events might have been avoided if none of the participants had insomnia.

“Further research is needed to examine whether insomnia treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy and digital applications are effective in this patient group.”

The findings of the study were published in the journal Sleep Advances.