Investigating the impact of multidimensional sleep traits on cardiovascular diseases and the mediating role of depression

Open Heart. 2025 Mar 13;12(1):e002866. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2024-002866.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Observational studies have reported that sleep is associated with the risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the causal relationships among various sleep traits remain contentious, and whether MDD mediates the impact of specific sleep traits on CVDs is unclear.

METHODS: We performed two-sample Mendelian randomisation analyses to explore whether insomnia, sleep time, daytime napping, daytime sleepiness, chronotype, snoring or obstructive sleep apnoea were causally associated with the risk of five CVDs, including coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation and stroke. Mediation analyses were performed to assess the proportion mediated by MDD.

RESULTS: Genetically predicted insomnia, short sleep, daytime napping and daytime sleepiness increased the risk of CVDs, with the OR ranging from 1.24 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.45) for insomnia on stroke to 1.55 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.89) for insomnia on MI. In contrast to short sleep, genetically predicted sleep duration decreased the risk of CAD (OR 0.88 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.97)), MI (OR 0.89 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.99)) and HF (OR 0.90 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.98)). However, we found no significant associations of long sleep, chronotype, snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea with increased risk for any CVD subtype. Additionally, the effect of insomnia was partially mediated by MDD for the risk of CAD (proportion mediated: 8.81% (95% CI 1.20% to 16.43%)), MI (9.17% (95% CI 1.71% to 16.63%)) and HF (14.46% (95% CI 3.48% to 25.45%)). Similarly, the effect of short sleep was partially mediated by MDD for the risk of CAD (8.92% (95% CI 0.87% to 16.97%)), MI (11.43% (95% CI 0.28% to 22.57%)) and HF (12.65% (95% CI 1.35% to 23.96%)). MDD also partially mediated the causal effects of insomnia on stroke, sleep duration on CAD, MI and HF, daytime napping on HF and daytime sleepiness on CAD.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence that genetically predicted insomnia, short sleep, frequent daytime napping and sleepiness are associated with a higher risk of certain CVD subtypes, partly mediated by MDD.

PMID:40086821 | DOI:10.1136/openhrt-2024-002866