AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 9, 2026, 00:39 GMT

Disrupted daily rhythms linked to cardiovascular events

Over a median 3.3 years, participants with the most disrupted daily rhythms had 84% higher relative cardiovascular risk than those with the most stable rhythms.

Paper by Anh Khoa Tran, Minh Tuan Viet Nguyen · Internal Medicine · Neurobiology

A heart with a blocked vessel and damaged tissue sits beside an intact heart, beneath upright groups of people and uneven versus regular crescents.

Our read

Populations

Studied:: Cohort study of 8,790 All of Us participants, median 3.3 years
What changed:: Hard cardiovascular outcomes were higher with circadian disruption: each 1-SD higher composite conferred HR 1.32 (95% CI 1.12-1.55)
The catch:: Underlying health problems can affect both daily rhythms and later cardiovascular diagnoses
In the record:: The 4th paper on circadian disruption with results in people; 22 on record in all.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Among 8,790 All of Us Research Program participants, an observational study linked Fitbit sleep, activity and heart-rate records with electronic health records. Researchers combined five measures covering sleep timing and duration, the timing of peak heart rate, and daytime versus nighttime activity.

Over a median 3.3 years, greater rhythm disruption was associated with a combined cardiovascular outcome including heart attack, heart failure and stroke caused by blocked blood flow. The link remained after adjustment for factors including blood pressure and existing illnesses. A separate combined outcome related to metabolism—how the body processes energy—showed no association. The authors proposed that nerves controlling automatic body functions, rather than metabolic pathways, accounted for the cardiovascular link.

Why it matters

Cardiovascular disease becomes more common with age. The authors identified regular sleep and activity as a potential target for prevention.

Caveats

Underlying health problems could have affected both participants’ daily rhythms and later cardiovascular diagnoses despite statistical adjustment. The conference abstract reported no test of the proposed nerve-related pathway or whether changing daily routines reduced risk.