Sleep, arousal and health-related quality of life in men and women with coronary artery disease

Aim. To evaluate whether there are gender differences in insomnia, sleep quality, sleep efficiency (%), general arousal, disease-specific and health-related quality of life in patients with coronary artery disease, compared with an age- and gender-matched randomly selected group from the general population.Background.  There are gender difference effects of sleep disturbances in the general population, but this perspective among patients with coronary artery disease has been poorly analysed.Design.  In this prospective study, comparative, descriptive and model testing designs were used.Method.  The patients with coronary artery disease, 556 men and 324 women aged 25–86, were compared with a matched population-based group. Data were collected by validated and reliability-tested questionnaires.Results.  The prevalence of severe insomnia varied between 17–44% in all four groups. The severe insomniac coronary artery disease patients displayed a two- or threefold higher presleep arousal, had two hours shorter nocturnal sleep duration/night and were more limited in their physical exercise level than the population-based group. Gender differences in sleep quality, sleep efficiency (%) and general arousal disappeared with increased insomnia severity.Conclusions.  Independent of gender, age and comorbidity, physical exercise, general arousal behaviour and delayed poststress recovery after mental stress were found to have a negative impact on the coronary artery disease patients’ sleep quality and sleep efficiency (%), interfering with their health-related quality of life. The variables significantly explained 41% of the sleep quality outcome and 29% of the sleep efficiency (%).Relevance to clinical practice.  Insomnia because of hyperarousal behaviour can be an important factor in the development of an individual self-care management programme supported by a healthcare team.