Long Sleep Duration and Dissatisfaction with Sleep Quality Are Associated with Ischemic Stroke in Young Patients

Suboptimal sleep duration and poor sleep quality have been proposed to increase stroke risk. However, their significance in young ischemic stroke is unclear. We aimed to investigate the importance of sleep duration and quality on young ischemic stroke patients.

A multicenter matched case-control study was performed to evaluate under-recognized risk factors in young (<45 years) ischemic stroke patients in 8 tertiary hospitals in Korea. A total of 225 patients and 225 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled in the same period. Detailed information about patients' demographics, socioeconomic state, and traditional and nontraditional risk factors including sleep-related factors were obtained using structured questionnaires. Risk of ischemic stroke was estimated using conditional logistic regression analysis.

Although average sleep duration was similar in patients and controls, patients were more likely to have long (≥9 h) or extremely short (<5 h) sleep durations. In addition, the proportion of subjects with dissatisfaction with sleep quality was higher in patients than controls (66.2 vs. 49.3%, p < 0.001). In multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis, long sleep duration (OR: 11.076, 95% CI: 1.819-67.446, p = 0.009) and dissatisfaction with sleep quality (OR: 2.116, 95% CI: 1.168-3.833, p = 0.013) were independently associated with risk of ischemic stroke.

Long sleep duration and dissatisfaction with sleep quality may be associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke in young adults. Improving sleep habit or quality could be important for reducing the risk of ischemic stroke.