Sleepiness and Stroke Risk
خواب آلودي و افزايش ايست مغزي

Excessive daytime drowsiness in older adults may predict a significantly increased risk of stroke, said researchers reporting data on Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

 

Most people have, from time to time, unintentionally dozed off on the couch watching television or reading a book or even stopped in traffic while driving. But persistent drowsiness during the day usually signals a chronic sleep deficit, and bigger problems.

 

 The new study found that people who suffered from "significant dozing " — those who almost always fell asleep involuntarily during the day — were 4.5 times more likely to have a stroke than people in the "no dozing" group.

 

The association between sleepiness and stroke was dose-dependent: the sleepier the person, the higher the risk of stroke. People in the "some dozing" group, who sometimes, but not always, fell asleep while watching TV or while sitting quietly after lunch, had a 2.6 higher risk of stroke than their more alert peers.

 

The study tracked 2,153 participants, average age 73, as part of the ongoing Northern Manhattan Study on stroke, led by Columbia University researchers. The data showed not only an increase in stroke risk with excessive daytime sleepiness, but also an increased risk of heart attack and vascular death: compared with well-rested people, moderately sleepy people had a 1.6 times higher risk; for severely sleepy people, the risk was 2.6 times greater.

 
One of the limitations of [our sleepiness scale] is that we're not really able to differentiate what type of sleep disturbances these people were having." While the scale indicates that people are sleepy during the day and therefore not resting well at night, it doesn't say why. In terms of stroke and other vascular risks, says Boden-Albala, "The question really is, Is it sleep apnea or is it the physiological consequence of not getting enough sleep?"
 
 

Dozing /v/= to sleep lightly for a short time

 

Vascular/adj/ = relating to the tubes through which liquids flow in the bodies of animals or in plants