Insomnia Ups Heart Failure Risk

More bad news for individuals with sleep problems. Recent research suggests that insomniacs are at higher risk of heart failure than people who sleep peacefully.

The study, which appeared in the European Heart Journal (2013; doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/eht019), followed 54,279 men and women aged 20–89 for about 11 years. The goal was to draw parallels—if any—between self-reported insomnia and heart failure. Baseline data included insomnia symptoms (difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep; nonrestorative sleep) and health status, including established cardiovascular risk factors.

Throughout the intervention 1,412 heart failure cases were reported among the study group. From the data, researchers noted a dose-dependent association between insomnia symptoms and heart failure—in other words, heart failure risk increased when more insomnia symptoms were present.