Poor sleep is linked to higher death risk in those with heart issues

— -- Diseases of the blood vessels supplying the heart and brain tissues are leading causes of death among Americans.

And while researchers have known that things like metabolic syndrome -- high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and/or triglycerides, high body mass index and high blood sugar -- and poor sleep increase the risk of these diseases, the true impact of these other factors has remained poorly understood so far.

The researchers from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine examined these metabolic risk measures, along with sleep duration, in more than 1,300 individuals using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's death records and the National Death Index.

They then tracked their survival about 16 years later. The researchers found that individuals who had three or more metabolic risk factors and slept less than six hours nightly were twice as likely to have died compared with those with similar risks but who slept more than six hours a night.

Most importantly, high blood pressure and blood sugar issues were most strongly tied to this increased risk.

Click here for more information on the article in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misidentified the institution where the researchers work; they are from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.