Impaired sleep quality is associated with concurrent elevations in inflammatory markers: are post-menopausal women at greater risk?

Bianca D’Antono,Véronique Bouchard

doi:10.1186/s13293-019-0250-x

Bianca D’Antono, Véronique Bouchard

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-019-0250-x

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Abstract

BackgroundChronic inflammation and impaired sleep increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. Menopausal women may be particularly at risk as a result of impaired sleep. The objective of the current investigation was to assess the relationship between poor sleep and C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in healthy non- and postmenopausal women and men.MethodsA fasting blood draw was obtained from 122 healthy men and women (31 were postmenopausal). Higher scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to define poor sleep. Given the sample size and healthy nature of the sample, hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed on a composite inflammatory score involving CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α. Sex/menopausal group and PSQI were entered as predictors, and the interaction of the group by PSQI was entered stepwise. Analyses on MPO were performed separately.ResultsSleep quality was associated with higher inflammatory activity (β = 0.272, P = 0.003), which remained significant (P = 0.046) after controlling for age, waist circumference, exercise times per week, and depressive symptoms. While in the same direction, sleep quality was not significantly associated with MPO. Dichotomizing sleep quality led to similar results.ConclusionImpaired sleep quality is independently associated with greater inflammation in healthy adult men and women. Despite an overall less favorable metabolic and inflammatory profile in postmenopausal women, impaired sleep did not emerge as differentially related to inflammatory activity in this group.

Highlights

Chronic inflammation and impaired sleep increase the risk for cardiovascular disease
Sleep impairment may contribute to CV disease (CVD) through its association or impact on other intermediary risk factors for CVD, including increased body weight [11, 12], hypertension [8, 13, 14], changes in glucose metabolism/diabetes, and insulin resistance [15]
This study reports on the cross-sectional association between poor sleep quality and inflammatory activity in healthy premenopausal and postmenopausal women and men

Summary

Introduction

Chronic inflammation and impaired sleep increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. Chronic low-grade inflammation, as represented by C-reactive protein (CRP), is an emerging risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and its complications [26, 27] and predicts CAD and mortality independently of traditional risk factors [14, 28,29,30,31]. For this reason, CRP is increasingly measured as part of the individual risk evaluation for heart disease [32, 33]

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