Broken sleep predicts hardened blood vessels

摘要

Why does poor-quality sleep lead to atherosclerosis? In a diverse sample of over 1,600 individuals, we describe a pathway wherein sleep fragmentation raises inflammatory-related white blood cell counts (neutrophils and monocytes), thereby increasing atherosclerosis severity, even when other common risk factors have been accounted for. Improving sleep quality may thus represent one preventive strategy for lowering inflammatory status and thus atherosclerosis risk, reinforcing public health policies focused on sleep health. Why does poor quality sleep correlate with cardiovascular disease? A large population-based study suggests that fragmented sleep contributes to atherosclerosis in humans by increasing inflammatory-related activity of white blood cells.