Washington [US]November 3 (ANI): Insomnia may be a potential risk factor for a cerebral hemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm along with more well-known risk factors for smoking and high blood pressure, according to new research.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open journal of the American Heart Association.
More than 3 percent of adults in the world have uninterrupted blood vessel malformations in the brain called intracranial aneurysms, the majority of which will never rupture. About 2.5 percent of intracranial aneurysms will rupture, resulting in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), also called cerebral hemorrhage.
SAH is a type of stroke that occurs when a blood vessel on the surface of the brain ruptures and bleeds into the space between the brain and the skull.
“Ruptured aneurysms are very fatal. It is therefore extremely important to identify modifiable risk factors that can help prevent aneurysms from rupturing,” says study author Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, associate professor at the Department of Cardiovascular and Nutritional Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and the unit for medical epidemiology at Uppsala University in Uppsala.
The researchers tried to determine if various factors were associated with intracranial aneurysm and / or rupture of the aneurysm. They studied established risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure and also assessed the association between aneurysm and coffee consumption, sleep, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar levels, type 2 diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, chronic inflammation and kidney function.
Data from several comprehensive association studies were used to measure genetic associations to lifestyle and cardiometabolic risk factors. Genetic information from a meta-analysis performed by the International Stroke Genetics Consortium was used to identify nearly 6,300 cases of intracranial aneurysm and nearly 4,200 cases of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Cases of intracranial aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhage were compared with over 59,500 controls to determine genetic predisposition to aneurysm. According to the analysis: 1. A genetic predisposition to insomnia was associated with a 24% increased risk of intracranial aneurysm and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
2. The risk of intracranial aneurysm was approximately three times higher for smokers compared to non-smokers.
3. The risk of intracranial aneurysm was almost three times higher for every 10 mm Hg increase in diastolic blood pressure (the lowest number in a blood pressure reading).
4. High triglyceride levels and high BMI showed no increased risk of intracranial aneurysm and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
“The association between insomnia and intracranial aneurysm has not been reported previously, and these findings warrant confirmation in future studies,” said Larsson. “Our research supports the idea that risk factors that humans may alter or manage may affect brain neurism and bleeding risk. Once confirmed, future studies should examine ways to incorporate this knowledge into prevention programs and therapies.” According to a scientific study from the American Heart Association from 2016 statement, Sleep duration and quality: Impact on lifestyle behaviors and cardiometabolic health, insufficient and poor sleep and sleep disorders are linked to a higher risk of high blood pressure.
The summary of the statement notes that treatment of people with sleep disorders can provide clinical benefits, especially for blood pressure.
The limitations of the study included that there was not enough information to adequately analyze some of the risk factors. In addition, the analysis included only people of European descent; therefore, the findings may not be generalizable to people of different races and ethnic groups.
Co-author is Ville Karhunen, PhD; Mark K. Bakker, MSc; Ynte M. Ruigrok, Ph.D .; and Dipender Gill, PhD.
The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, which funded the study. (ANI)
Source: sn.dk