Robust sleep-wake rhythms linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk
Participants in the lowest versus highest quarter of sleep-wake rhythm contrast had a 29% higher relative risk of cardiovascular disease.
Limit: Sleep-wake rhythms were measured from only one week of activity tracking
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational study, researchers analyzed 89,253 UK Biobank participants without cardiovascular disease who wore wrist activity monitors for seven days. They measured sleep-wake organization using relative amplitude, the contrast between each person's ten most active hours and five least active hours. Over a median follow-up of 9.6 years, hospital and death records identified 5,793 new cardiovascular events.
After adjusting for lifestyle, health risks, sleep duration, and total activity, higher relative amplitude was associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk. Participants in the lowest quarter of relative amplitude had a 29% higher risk than those in the highest quarter. Inactive participants with robust rhythms showed no elevated risk compared with the high-activity group with robust rhythms. The association was stronger in adults aged 60 and older.
Why it matters
For older adults with low activity, sleep-wake patterns may help refine cardiovascular disease risk assessment and complement activity-based prevention strategies.
Caveats
This observational study cannot show that changing sleep-wake rhythms would lower cardiovascular disease risk. It used one week of activity tracking, excluded people with existing cardiovascular disease, and was reported as a conference abstract.
