Sleep pattern and cardiovascular disease: a big data study on gender impact

Introduction: Sleep disorders are a common problem in general population, occurring in about 30% of adults. It is known that sleep breathing disorders are linked to an increase of cardiovascular diseases, but during the last decade more attention has been devoted to investigate the link between insomnia and cardiovascular disorders. It has been demonstrated that insomnia is associated with hypertension, heart failure, coronary heart disease and cardiovascular mortality. Aims and objectives: The aim of our retrospective study was to investigate the occurrence of sleep disorders in patients hospitalized after an acute cardiovascular event and assess gender-related distribution. Methods: A registered nurse administered to consecutive patients accessing our Cardiology unit a simple sleep screening questionnaire that investigated: sleep pattern (normal, difficulty to fall asleep, difficulty to maintain sleep or early awakenings); presence/absence of snoring; presence/absence of excessive daytime sleepiness; sleep drugs intake. Results: We collected sleep related symptoms in 14,571 patients (F 4481), mean age 68.6±11.5 yrs, BMI 27.1±5.2 kg/m2. Fig. 1 reports the flowchart of our data. Conclusions: About half of our population complains of sleep disorders, with similar occurrence in males and females. Chronic heart failure, a condition often associated with sleep respiratory disorders, has the same prevalence in the different groups.