1. Short Sleep Duration as a Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Summary and Comment by Jamaluddin Moloo, MD, MPH Published in Journal Watch General Medicine December 24, 2008Journal Watch General Medicine Sleeping less than 7.5 hours nightly and having nighttime rises in SBP were associated with excess cardiovascular risk in older patients with hypertension. CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society

2. Covering Eguchi K et al. Short sleep duration as an independent predictor of cardiovascular events in Japanese patients with hypertension. Arch Intern Med 2008 Nov 10; 168:2225. CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society

3. Background Eight hours is a commonly accepted norm for a good, healthful night’s sleep. Japanese researchers assessed whether sleeping less was associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD; stroke, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death). They followed more than 1200 hypertensive people (mean age, 70) for a mean of 4 years. Awake and sleep times were self-reported during 24 hours of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring; short sleep duration was defined as <7.5 hours (the lowest quintile). CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society

4. The Research After adjustments for multiple risk factors, short sleep duration was associated with an elevated risk for incident CVD (hazard ratio, 1.59). A synergistic association was found between short sleep duration and a riser pattern of BP, defined as mean nighttime systolic BP greater than mean daytime systolic BP; for the group with short sleep duration and riser BP pattern, the hazard ratio for CVD was 4.43. CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society

5. Comment Although some people believe that many older adults don’t require 8 hours of sleep, these results suggest that short sleep duration (<7.5 hours) is associated with higher rates of incident stroke, MI, and sudden cardiac death in older people with hypertension. Notably, the finding was independent of traditional risk factors for CVD. CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society

6. About Journal Watch Journal Watch helps physicians and allied heath professionals save time and stay informed by providing brief, clearly written, clinically focused perspectives on the medical developments that affect practice. Journal Watch is an independent, trustworthy source, from the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine. These slides were derived from Journal Watch General Medicine.Journal Watch General Medicine The best way to stay informed with Journal Watch, is through our alerts. To sign up, visit the My Alerts page.My Alerts page CopyrightCopyright © 2008. Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.Massachusetts Medical Society