Association between sleep duration and rupture of intracranial aneurysms: A single-center retrospective study

Abstract Objective To assess the relationship between sleep duration and risk of rupture of intracranial aneurysms (IAs). Methods According to our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 683 patients admitted to Beijing Tiantan Hospital were included in this study. There were 201 patients in the ruptured group and 482 patients in the unruptured group. Sleep duration was divided into three levels: ≥8 h (long), 6–8 h (normal), ≤6 h (short). Correlation between different sleep duration and rupture of IAs was evaluated by univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Results The results of multivariate analysis demonstrated that there was a statistical difference between sleep duration of ≤6 h and sleep duration ≥8 h (OR = 1.76, CI = [1.08–2.87], p = 0.025). There was no statistically significant difference between the group with sleep duration of 6–8 h and sleep duration of ≥8 h (OR = 1.04, CI = [0.65–1.67], p = 0.857). Conclusion Short sleep duration (≤6 h) may be related to the rupture of intracranial aneurysms. The reason for this correlation is not yet clear. We suspect that it may be caused by a series of physiological changes caused by reduced sleep.