Association of healthy sleep patterns with incident cervical disc disorders: a prospective study

There is limited evidence regarding the relationship between multidimensional sleep behaviors and incident cervical disc disorders. This study examined whether a composite healthy sleep pattern was associated with the subsequent risk of cervical disc disorders.

This prospective cohort study used data from the UK Biobank. Participants with baseline cervical disc disorders or missing data were excluded, leaving 399,862 participants for analysis. A composite healthy sleep score was derived from five sleep characteristics: sleep chronotype, sleep duration, insomnia, snoring, and daytime sleepiness. The primary outcome was incident cervical disc disorders, identified using ICD-10 codes (M50). Cox proportional hazards models were fitted with adjustment for demographic, lifestyle, and socioeconomic covariates.

During follow-up, 2,735 incident cases were documented. Each 1-point increase in the healthy sleep score was associated with an 18% lower risk (HR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.79-0.85). Participants with a score of 5 had a lower risk than those with a score of 0-1 (HR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.35-0.52). The inverse association was stronger among participants with higher socioeconomic deprivation (P for interaction = 0.018).

In this cohort analysis, baseline adherence to healthy sleep behaviors was associated with a significantly lower risk of cervical disc disorders, suggesting that promoting healthy sleep may be a viable strategy for primary prevention.