The association between insomnia and cardiovascular diseases
Open accessAbstract
Insomnia, the most common sleep complaint in the general population, is defined by difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep, accompanied by some form of daytime impairment. In the current review, we present an overview of recent studies on the association between insomnia and cardiovascular disease. It can be concluded that there is growing evidence for the hypothesis that insomnia is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease independently of classic coronary risk factors. Furthermore, insomnia is likely to be associated with hypertension and elevated resting heart rate, both known to lead to cardiovascular disease. However, the existing evidence is not totally consistent and most findings have not been replicated unequivocally. The major limitations of the cited studies include the failure to use state-of-the-art criteria for insomnia diagnosis, the failure to control for depression, and the use of hypnotic medication and sleep apnea as potential confounders. However, the results suggest that insomnia is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease mediated by hypertension or elevated resting heart rate. Consequently, more effort should be dedicated to cope with the high prevalence of insomnia in the general population.
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- Authors
- Spiegelhalder, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Spiegelhalder, Kai
- ORCID
- Spiegelhalder, Kai
- Venue
- Nature and Science of Sleep
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-05
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 71
- ISSN
- 1179-1608 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3630935
- OpenAlex
- W2021385235
- Cited by
- 107
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 5.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature and Science of Sleep (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Obstructive Sleep Apnea Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Keywords
- insomnia, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, resting heart rate, coronary risk factors, non-restorative sleep, cardiovascular risk
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