Differences in preventable diseases among black and white Americans could be linked to a lack of sleep, according to a new study.
Published Aug. 15 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study looked at habitual sleep patterns to help explain why black Americans have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes and stroke compared with whites.
Using data from the Midlife in the United States study, investigators assessed total sleep time and sleep efficiency among about 430 black and white participants. The results showed that black participants got nearly 40 fewer minutes of sleep, while having 10 percent lower sleep efficiency, than white participants.
Differences in sleep patterns may be attributed to increased exposure to social stresses, the study showed. Stressors associated with socio-economic status and systemic discrimination can lead to low sleep efficiency.
To establish the relationship between poor sleeping patterns and increased cardiovascular and diabetes risk, further testing was performed on the study participants. Risk was calculated through waist circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides and cholesterol level. The results showed black participants had significantly larger waist circumference, higher blood pressure and greater insulin resistance. However, they had lower levels of triglycerides and bad cholesterol.
Investigators concluded that half of racial differences in cardiovascular and diabetes risk could be explained by sleep patterns. Interventions to improve quality and quantity of sleep may reduce health disparities among black Americans, the researchers said, noting that sleep interventions are cost-effective, and that sleep is an improvable behavior.
“What we hope is that as patients and health care providers become aware of these associations, they will prioritize considering sleep as an essential component of a healthy lifestyle,” said Mercedes Carnethon, PhD, an associate professor of preventative medicine in the Division of Epidemiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and co-author of the study, in a news release.
For more information, visit http://www.pnas.org/content/114/33/8889.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association