Excessive daytime sleepiness and vascular events: The Three City Study

Sleep complaints and metabolic syndrome in an elderly population: the Three-City Study

OBJECTIVES

To assess whether sleep complaints (rather than clinically defined sleep disturbances) were associated with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and each of its components in an elderly population.

METHODS

Cross-sectional analyses of data from the French Three City Study, a large multicenter cohort of elderly community-dwellers.

PARTICIPANTS

6,354 participants (56.4% women, median age 73; range: 65-97 years).

MEASUREMENTS

Frequency of insomnia complaints (difficulty in initiating sleep, difficulty in maintaining sleep [DMS], and early morning awakening) and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) were self-reported. MetS was assessed using National Cholesterol Education program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria.

RESULTS

A total of 977 participants had MetS. After adjustment for a large range of potential confounders, we report an association between the number of insomnia complaints and MetS. Among insomnia complaints only DMS was consistently associated with MetS (OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.43). Our results showed that EDS independently increased the risk of MetS (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.18 to 1.81 for "frequently"; OR: 1.99, 95% CI: 1.49 to 1.67 for "often"). The EDS-MetS association was independent of past-history of cardiovascular disease, insomnia complaints, and obesity and loud snoring.

CONCLUSION

We report significant independent associations between frequent sleep complaints (EDS and to a lesser extent DMS) and MetS in the elderly with potential implications in terms of management and cardiovascular prevention in general geriatric practice. Prospective studies are required to clarify the direction of the association between sleep complaints and MetS.

Effect of age and gender in the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness among a sample of the Saudi population

The aim of this study is to assess whether the effect of gender on the excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is influenced by two confounders (age and hours of sleep per night). A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh (KAMC-R). A total of 2095 respondents answered a questionnaire that included questions regarding gender, age, hours of sleep per night, and daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The prevalence of EDS was 20.5% (females 22.2%, males 19.5%, p-value = 0.136). The EDS did not differ between genders, age groups, or hours of sleep per night (<6 vs. ⩾6 h). However, stratified statistical analysis shows that the prevalence of EDS did differ according to gender (25.3% in females, 19.0% in males, p-value = 0.036) in respondents with shorter hours of sleep per night. EDS was strongly related to female gender and young age (ages ⩽ 29 years) in respondents with short hours of sleep. This study reveals that one out of five of the general Saudi population has EDS. The effect of gender on EDS appeared to be influenced by hours of sleep per night. High EDS strongly related to female gender with short hours of sleep.

Sonolência diurna excessiva nos pacientes com infarto agudo do miocárdio

Resumo Objetivos: Caracterizar a sonolência diurna em pacientes com infarto agudo do miocárdio e identificar as características sociodemográficas e clínicas associadas à sonolência diurna excessiva nesses pacientes. Métodos: Estudo transversal com 113 pacientes (média de idade 59,7; 70,8% sexo masculino). Utilizou-se um instrumento para caracterização sociodemográfica e clínica e a Escala de Sonolência de Epworth. Resultados: A sonolência diurna excessiva foi identificada em 33 pacientes (29,2%). Aqueles com índice de massa corporal acima de 30kg/m2 e aqueles que evoluíram com piora clínica obtiveram escore superior na Escala de Sonolência Epworth, comparados àqueles com índice de massa corporal inferior a 30kg/m2 e melhora clínica. Os pacientes com 60 anos ou mais, os separados e aqueles com índice de massa corporal superior a 30kg/m2 apresentaram chances maiores de referir sonolência diurna excessiva. Conclusão: Identificar indivíduos com sonolência diurna excessiva deve constituir parte da atuação rotineira do enfermeiro visando à prevenção das doenças cardiovasculares.

Daytime sleepiness and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: results from the Nurses' Health Study II

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine whether daytime sleepiness is independently associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke or whether the positive association is explained by short sleep duration, disturbed sleep, and circadian disruption, conditions that are associated with cardiometabolic risk factors for vascular events.

METHODS

Longitudinal analyses of data from the Nurses' Health Study II comprising 84,003 female registered nurses aged 37-54 at baseline were conducted in 2001 with follow-up until 2009. Multivariate Cox regression was used to explore the relationship between reported daytime sleepiness and the incidence of either CHD or stroke (n=500 cases).

RESULTS

Women who reported daytime sleepiness almost every day, compared with rarely/never, had an elevated adjusted risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (hazard ratio (HR)=1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.17). Controlling for sleep variables (sleep duration, snoring, shift work, and sleep adequacy) or potential metabolic biological mediators of disrupted sleep (diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension) appreciably attenuated the relationship (HR=1.17, 95% CI 0.84-1.65; and HR=1.34, 95% CI 0.97-1.85, respectively). Controlling for both sleep variables and metabolic risk factors eliminated an independent association (HR=1.09, 95% CI 0.77-1.53). A similar pattern was observed for CHD and stroke individually.

CONCLUSIONS

Daytime sleepiness was not an independent risk factor for CVD in this cohort of women, but rather, was associated with sleep characteristics and metabolic abnormalities that are risk factors for CVD.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with longer culprit lesion and adverse outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease

STUDY OBJECTIVES

We assessed whether excessive daytime sleepiness was associated with coronary plaque phenotype and subsequent adverse cardiovascular events.

METHODS

Prospective cohort study. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) examination of the culprit coronary stenosis was performed. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) questionnaire was administered, and the patients were divided into 2 groups-(1) sleepier and (2) less sleepy-based on the ESS score. Adverse cardiovascular outcomes were defined as cardiac death, myocardial infarction, stroke, unplanned revascularization, or heart failure admission.

RESULTS

One hundred seventeen patients undergoing urgent or non-urgent coronary angiography were recruited. Compared with the less sleepy group (ESS ≤ 10, n = 87), the sleepier group (ESS > 10, n = 30) had higher serum levels of total cholesterol and of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterols (p < 0.05 for both). The IVUS examinations indicated coronary stenoses were longer in the sleepier group than in the less sleepy group (p = 0.011). The cumulative incidence of adverse cardiovascular events at 16-month follow-up was higher in the sleepier than the less sleepy group (12.5% versus 6.9%, p = 0.03). Cox regression analysis adjusting for age and smoking showed increased hazard of adverse cardiovascular events in sleepier group as compared to less sleepy group (HR = 3.44, 95% CI 1.01-11.72).

CONCLUSION

In patients presenting with coronary artery disease, excessive daytime sleepiness based on ESS > 10 was associated with longer culprit lesions and future adverse cardiovascular events.

Hypnotics and mortality in an elderly general population: a 12-year prospective study

BACKGROUND

Hypnotics are widely used by the elderly, and their impact on mortality remains controversial. The inconsistent findings could be due to methodological limitations, notably the lack of control for underlying sleep symptoms or illness associated with hypnotic use, for example, insomnia symptoms and excessive daytime sleepiness, depression and anxiety. Our objective was to examine the association between the use of hypnotics and mortality risk in a large cohort of community-dwelling elderly, taking into account a wide range of potential competing risks including sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and chronic disorders as well as underlying psychiatric disorders and sleep complaints.

METHODS

Analyses were carried out on 6,696 participants aged 65 years or older randomly recruited from three French cities and free of dementia at baseline. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards models with delayed entry, and age of the participants as the time scale, were used to determine the association between hypnotic use and 12-year survival.

RESULTS

At baseline, 21.7% of the participants regularly used at least one hypnotic. During follow-up, 1,307 persons died, 480 from cancer and 344 from cardiovascular disease. Analyses adjusted for study center, age and gender showed a significantly greater risk of all-cause and cardiovascular-related mortality with hypnotics, particularly benzodiazepines, and this increased with the number of hypnotics used. None of these associations were significant in models adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics, chronic disorders including cardiovascular pathologies, sleep and psychiatric disorders. Results remained unchanged when duration of past hypnotic intake or persistent versus intermittent use during follow-up were taken into account.

CONCLUSIONS

When controlling for a large range of potential confounders, the risk of mortality was not significantly associated with hypnotic use regardless of the type and duration. Underlying psychiatric disorders appear to be the principal confounders of the observed association.

Sleep disturbance correlates with white matter hyperintensity in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia

BACKGROUND

Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) caused by small-artery disease, and hypoperfusion is a major cause of vascular cognitive impairment. Little is known about the relationship between sleep disturbance and white matter hyperintensity (WMH). We investigated the association between sleep disturbance and WMH, measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in patients with SIVD.

METHODS

Patients with SIVD recruited from our outpatient clinic completed the Sleep Disturbance Symptom Questionnaire (SDSQ) and Geriatric Depression Scale-short form (GDS-S) and underwent brain MRI. Total SDSQ scores were calculated by summing frequency ratings of the instrument's 20 items. We graded WMH on brain MR images using a visual rating scale ranging from 0 (barely detectable) to 9 (extensive changes).

RESULTS

We enrolled 72 patients (31 men, 41 women; mean age, 75.9 ± 7.9 years) with SIVD. The SDSQ scores were positively correlated with WMH grading (r = .337, P = .001) and tended to be associated with higher GDS-S scores (r = .268, P = .022). Patients with diabetes mellitus tended to display higher mean WMH severity than those without diabetes (4.2 vs 3.3, P = .022). After controlling for confounding factors, the multivariate regression model showed that WMH severity was significantly associated with sleep disturbance (P = .002).

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed that manifestations of sleep disturbance were significantly associated with WMH severity, with most symptoms related to daytime hypersomnolence. Disruption of the frontal-subcortical neuronal circuit might play a role in sleep disturbance in patients with SIVD.

Insomnia, daytime sleepiness and cardio-cerebrovascular diseases in the elderly: a 6-year prospective study

OBJECTIVE

To examine 1) the associations between history of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and insomnia complaints and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and 2) the relationships between sleep complaints and future CVD in persons over 65.

METHODS

CVD was assessed at baseline and during two, four, and six-year follow-up in 5494 non-demented subjects. Self-reported insomnia complaints (poor sleep quality, difficulty in initiating sleep, difficulty in maintening sleep, and early morning awakening), EDS and sleep medication use were evaluated at baseline. Logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazard models, with delayed entry and age of participants as the time scale, were adjusted for socio-demographic, lifestyle and clinical variables.

RESULTS

At baseline, 748 participants had a past-history of CVD. A past-history of CVD was associated with EDS (OR = 1.28 95%CI = [1.05-1.57]) and the number of insomnia complaints (OR = 1.26 95%CI = [1.03-1.55] for 1-2 insomnia complaints; OR = 1.32 95%CI = [1.03-1.71] for ≥3 complaints). In longitudinal analyses, neither the four components of insomnia nor the number of insomnia complaints were significantly associated with first or recurrent CVD events (n = 391 events). EDS was independently associated with future CVD events even after adjusting for prescribed sleep medication and past-history of CVD (HR = 1.35 95%CI = [1.06-1.71]).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the relationships between sleep complaints and CVD could be complex. Insomnia complaints are more likely a consequence of CVD, whereas EDS appears to be a determinant of CVD independently of past-history of CVD. EDS screening may thus constitute a means of detecting persons at high risk of CVD.

Excessive sleepiness is predictive of cognitive decline in the elderly

STUDY OBJECTIVES

To examine the association of sleep complaints reported at baseline (insomnia complaints and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)) and medication, with cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly.

DESIGN

An 8-yr longitudinal study.

SETTING

The French Three-City Study.

PARTICIPANTS

There were 4,894 patients without dementia recruited from 3 French cities and having a Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score ≥ 24 points at baseline.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

Questionnaires were used to evaluate insomnia complaints (poor sleep quality (SQ), difficulty in initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty in maintaining sleep (DMS), early morning awakening (EMA)), EDS, and sleep medication at baseline. Cognitive decline was defined as a 4-point reduction in MMSE score during follow-up at 2, 4, and 8 yr. Logistic regression models were adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral, physical, and mental health variables, and apolipoprotein E genotype. EDS independently increased the risk of cognitive decline (odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.56), especially for those patients who also developed dementia during the follow-up period (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.00-1.97). The number of insomnia complaints and DMS were negatively associated with MMSE cognitive decline (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.60-0.98 for 3-4 complaints, OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.68-0.96, respectively). The 3 other components of insomnia (SQ, DIS, EMA) were not significantly associated with MMSE cognitive decline.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that EDS may be associated independently with the risk of cognitive decline in the elderly population. Such results could have important public health implications because EDS may be an early marker and potentially reversible risk factor of cognitive decline and onset of dementia.