WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Sleep irregularity, especially irregular sleep duration, is associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis, according to a study published online Feb. 15 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Kelsie M. Full, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues examined cross-sectional associations of actigraphy-assessed sleep duration and sleep timing regularity with subclinical atherosclerosis among 2,032 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Sleep Ancillary Study who completed seven-day wrist actigraphy.

The researchers found that participants with greater sleep duration irregularity (standard deviation [SD] >120 minutes) were more likely to have high coronary artery calcium burden (>300) and an abnormal ankle-brachial index (<0.9; prevalence ratios, 1.33 and 1.75, respectively) compared with participants with more regular sleep durations (SD ≤60 minutes) after adjustment. Participants with irregular sleep timing (SD >90 minutes) were more likely to have high coronary artery calcium burden than those with more regular sleep timing (SD ≤30 minutes; prevalence ratio, 1.39). After adjustment for cardiovascular disease risk factors and average sleep duration, obstructive sleep apnea, and sleep fragmentation, the associations persisted.

“Encouraging maintenance of regular sleep schedules with consistent sleep durations may be an important part of lifestyle recommendations provided in clinical practice for the prevention of cardiovascular disease,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to Jazz Pharma and Respicardia.

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