Is sleep quality and duration associated with stroke risk?

This study investigated the effect of sleep quality and duration on stroke risk in Chinese patients. Researchers suggested that impaired sleep is associated with a risk of stroke in these patients.

Stroke is a severe condition that affects millions of people worldwide. A stroke consists of a decrease in blood flow to the brain due to obstruction. This can be due to either a blood clot or a burst blood vessel. Brain cells stop receiving oxygen and begin to die. The body abilities controlled by these cells are lost causing long-term effects such as paralysis.

Prior studies suggested that stroke is associated with poor sleep quality and sleep duration. Sleep quality consists of falling asleep in 30 minutes or less, sleep soundly through the night with no more than one awakening.

Impaired sleep is very common. However, few studies investigated the association between sleep quality and stroke risk.

This study included information about 41,786 Chinese patients. Sleep quality and duration were assessed in every patient.

When compared to a sleep duration of 6 to 8h per day, patients who slept less than 6h were 1.63 times more at risk of having a stroke. This risk was 1.40 times more for patients who slept for more than 8 hours. The stroke risk was 2.37 times in patients with poor sleep quality when compared to those with good sleep quality.

Women who slept less than 6 hours had a higher stroke risk than men who slept the same hours. Men who slept more than 8 hours had a higher risk than women who slept the same hours. Men with poor sleep quality had a higher risk of stroke than women with the same sleep quality. Patients with poor sleep quality and short sleep duration were 6.75 times more at risk of having a stroke.

This study concluded that patients with impaired sleep are more at risk of having a stroke.

This study was conducted in Chinese adults. Therefore, the results may not apply to all populations.