Roundup: ‘Irregular’ Sleep Habits Linked to Heart Disease in Older Adults; Latest on Health Risks of Added Sugars; and More News

American Heart Association: Adults 45 & Older with “Irregular” Sleep Habits Linked to Higher Risk of Hardened Arteries

Adults 45 and older who fall asleep at different times each night and slept an inconsistent number of hours -- a condition known as “sleep Irregularity” -- are more likely to develop atherosclerosis, which is when plaque (fatty deposits) build up in the arteries. Atherosclerosis can result in other serious cardiovascular conditions and lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Previous studies have found links between unhealthy sleep habits and higher risks of heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease conditions.

In the most recent study, published this month in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers analyzed the sleep habits of more than 2,000 men and women, with an average age of 69, who were enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis between 2010 and 2013. Participants were free of cardiovascular disease when the sleep study began.

The participants wore wrist devices that detected when they were awake and when they were sleeping. In addition to completing a “sleep diary” for a week, they took part in a “in-home sleep study that tracked breathing, sleep stages, heart rate and sleep interruptions,” states a news release from the American Heart Association (AHA). Sleep duration was measured as the total amount of time spent in bed fully asleep. The time at which each participant fell asleep each night was also tracked.

Researchers then used various methods to diagnose atherosclerosis. They analyzed calcified fatty plaque buildup in the arteries (coronary artery calcium), fatty plaque buildup in neck arteries (carotid plaque), thickness of the inner two layers of the neck arteries (carotid intima-media thickness) and narrowed peripheral arteries (the ankle-brachial index), said the AHA.

The findings: Participants with sleep durations that varied by more than two hours within the same week were 1.4 times more likely to have high levels of coronary artery calcium, a major contributor to cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. Additionally, participants whose bedtimes varied by more than 90 minutes within the same week were 1.43 times more likely to have high coronary artery calcium, compared to those whose bedtimes varied by 30 minutes or less.

"Maintaining regular sleep schedules and decreasing variability in sleep is an easily adjustable lifestyle behavior that can not only help improve sleep, but also help reduce cardiovascular risk for aging adults," lead study author Kelsie Full, assistant professor of medicine in epidemiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said in a news release.

New Study Links the Overconsumption of ‘Added Sugars’ to Cardiovascular Disease

Consuming too much “free sugars” – most commonly known as “added sugars” can lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, an elevated BMI (body mass index) and a greater waist circumference, according to a new study published in the journal BMC Medicine.

Researchers reviewed diet and health data from more than 110,000 people who participated in UK Biobank, a cohort study that collected data between 2006 and 2010 from more than 503,000 adults in the United Kingdom.

Study participants took part in extensive online assessments that included the logging of their food and beverage intake several times within each 24-hour period. After over nine years of follow-up, the researchers found total carbohydrate intake wasn’t associated with cardiovascular disease. But when they analyzed how outcomes differed depending on the types and sources of carbohydrates, they found that higher “added sugar” intake was linked to a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and being overweight or obese.

A higher daily consumption of “added sugars” was also linked with higher amounts of triglycerides, a type of fat. Triglycerides are “the most common type of fat in your body. They come from foods, especially butter, oils, and other fats you eat,” states the National Institutes of Health. A high level of triglycerides can raise your risk of heart disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that added sugars include sugars that are added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose or dextrose), foods packaged as sweeteners (such as table sugar), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They do not include naturally occurring sugars that are found in milk, whole fruits, and whole vegetables. 

U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that less than 10 percent of calories per day should include “added sugars” in both foods and beverages. The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests an added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for most women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.

Researchers: COVID-19 Infection Raises Risk of Diabetes – Higher in Those Unvaccinated

New research is adding to the growing data linking COVID-19 infections to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The latest study on this association, published in JAMA Network Open, comes from researchers at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who reviewed the medical records of more than 23,700 adults who These patients were treated within the Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles from 2020-2022.

“Our results validate early findings revealing a risk of developing type 2 diabetes after a COVID-19 infection and indicate that this risk has, unfortunately, persisted through the Omicron era,” said Alan Kwan, M.D., first and corresponding author of the study, and a cardiovascular physician in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, in a statement.

The study concluded that the risk of type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 exposure for unvaccinated patients was 2.7 percent, with 74% occurring after COVID-19 infection -- versus 26 percent happening prior to COVID-19 exposure.

Their findings indicated that the risk may be lower in individuals who were already vaccinated against COVID-19 by the time they were infected. The risk of type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 exposure for vaccinated patients was 1.0 percent, with 51 percent occurring after COVID-19 infection --versus 49 percent occurring prior to COVID-19 exposure.

“These results suggest that COVID-19 vaccination prior to infection may provide a protective effect against diabetes risk,” said Dr. Kwan in a statement. “Although further studies are needed to validate this hypothesis, we remain steadfast in our belief that COVID-19 vaccination remains an important tool in protecting against COVID-19 and the still-uncertain risks that people may experience during the post-infection period.”