Association between sleep deficiency and cardiometabolic disease: implications for health disparities

Area of Science:

• Sleep science
• Cardiometabolic health
• Health disparities

Background:

• Cardiometabolic diseases (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease) reduce quality and expectancy of life.
• Minority populations and lower socioeconomic groups bear a disproportionate burden of cardiometabolic diseases.
• Disparities in sleep duration and quality mirror those observed in cardiometabolic disease prevalence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the association between sleep and cardiometabolic disease risk.
• To investigate the potential role of suboptimal sleep in mediating cardiometabolic disease disparities.

Main Methods:

• Reviewed experimental studies on sleep restriction/impairment and cardiometabolic biomarkers (glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, appetite regulation, immune function).
• Reviewed observational studies on habitual sleep duration/quality and cardiometabolic disease prevalence/risk (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease).

Main Results:

• Experimental studies demonstrate that restricted sleep duration and impaired sleep quality negatively impact biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk.
• Observational studies consistently show an association between poor sleep and increased prevalence or risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Conclusions:

• Suboptimal sleep, including insufficient duration and poor quality, is significantly associated with increased cardiometabolic disease risk.
• Evidence supports the hypothesis that poor sleep may partially explain disparities in cardiometabolic disease burden among different populations.