Sleep and cardiac diseases amongst elderly people

To investigate the interrelationship between sleep complaints and cardiac symptoms.

An epidemiological survey by means of questionnaire.

Västerbotten and Norrbotten in northern Sweden.

All 10,216 members of the Swedish Pensioners' Association (SPF).

Sleep disturbances and cardiac diseases.

Of the men who slept well, 3.0% stated they were troubled by both spasmodic chest pain ('angina pectoris') and a sensation of irregular heart beats ('cardiac arrhythmia'), 9.9% had angina pectoris alone, 7.9% suffered from cardiac arrhythmia, and 79.2% had neither of these disorders. Amongst the men who slept poorly, the corresponding frequencies were 7.0%, 8.7%, 12.3% and 72.0% (P < 0.001). Amongst the women who slept well these frequencies were 2.3%, 7.0%, 8.2% and 82.5%, and among those who slept poorly 5.9%, 10.2%, 15.0% and 68.9% (P < 0.0001). Amongst those with reported sleep complaints, there was an increased occurrence of both angina pectoris and cardiac arrhythmia. This increase in cardiac disease was found in men and women; both in those with trouble falling asleep, those who frequently awoke during the night and those who had difficulty regaining sleep; and also in those with too early final awakening in the morning. Daytime sleepiness was also associated with increased cardiac symptoms.

Poor sleep was associated with both an increase in angina pectoris and cardiac arrhythmias.