Abstract P359: Difficulty Falling Asleep is Predictive of Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Introduction: Insomnia symptoms are associated with cardiovascular disease and multiple metabolic syndrome components, yet few studies have investigated their association with metabolic syndrome. Hypothesis: Insomnia symptoms will be significantly associated with prevalent metabolic syndrome. Methods: Middle-aged, community-dwelling adults, ages 40-65 yrs, were recruited to participate in a study on healthy aging. All participants completed questionnaires on demographics, medical history, and sleep patterns in the past month including estimated sleep-onset latency, frequency of difficulty falling asleep, and severity of difficulty falling asleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and early morning awakenings. Measurements for metabolic syndrome were collected at a home health visit. All metabolic syndrome criteria consisting of waist circumference, triglyceride level, HDL cholesterol level, blood pressure, and fasting glucose were identified using the American Heart Association definitions. Participants with three or more positive criteria were considered to have metabolic syndrome. Of a total sample of 770 individuals, 557 participants who did not have a history of cardiovascular events (n = 62), and had complete sleep and metabolic syndrome data were included in the analysis. We conducted logistic regression models predicting presence of metabolic syndrome from the sleep measures adjusting for age, sex, race, education level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, moderate physical activity minutes per week, and current major depression diagnosis. Results: Metabolic syndrome was prevalent in 24.2% of the sample (n = 135). Sleep onset latency of greater than 30 minutes and difficulty falling asleep three or more nights per week were significantly related to metabolic syndrome, but no other insomnia symptoms were related (see Table). Conclusions: Difficulty falling asleep, a marker of physiological and emotional hyperarousal, may be a modifiable risk factor for metabolic syndrome.