Blasco-Colmenares E, et al. - Researchers examined healthy middle-age men with a low prevalence of clinical comorbidities to determine the link between sleep duration and the presence of coronary, carotid, and femoral subclinical atherosclerosis. As measured by coronary artery calcium (CAC), the lowest prevalence of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis was detected among middle-aged men reporting 7 hours of sleep. Increased risk of atherosclerosis was reported in men with very short or very long sleep durations.

Methods

• This cross-sectional analysis included a total of 1968 men, 40–60 years of age, participating in the Aragon Workers' Health Study were examined.
• A questionnaire was used to assess duration of sleep during a typical work week.
• Computed tomography and ultrasound were used to assess coronary artery calcium scores (CACS) and the presence of carotid plaque and femoral plaque, respectively.

Results

• Data showed that the odds ratios (95% CI) for CACS >0, comparing sleep durations of ≤5, 6, and ≥8 hours with 7 hours, were 1.34 (0.98–1.85), 1.35 (1.08–1.69) and 1.21 (0.90–1.62), respectively (p=0.04), as revealed in fully adjusted models.
• For CACS ≥100 and for CACS, researchers noted a similar U-shaped association.
• They also observed that the corresponding odds ratios for the presence of at least one carotid plaque, comparing ≤5, 6, and ≥8 hours with 7 hours, were 1.23 (0.88–1.72), 1.09 (0.86–1.38), and 0.86 (0.63–1.17), respectively (p=0.31), and for the presence of at least one femoral plaque were 1.25 (0.87–1.80), 1.19 (0.93–1.51) and 1.17 (0.86–1.61), respectively (p=0.39).