Sleep and Myocardial Infarction Reoccurrence

Roughly every 42 seconds an American experiences a myocardial infarction (MI). More importantly, over a third will have another MI within 6 years. Approximately 34% of deaths from heart disease could have been delayed or prevented through changes in health habits such as sleep. Examining sleep in those post MI is important to understanding the associations between sleep and cardiovascular health. The purpose of this senior honors project was to examine the associations between sleep duration and sleep quality and the reoccurrence of MI in adults. A secondary analysis of data from a comparative research study (N=156) that examined MI reoccurrence in Blacks and Whites was used to investigate the relationships between sleep duration, sleep quality, and MI reoccurrence via Pearson’s correlation, chi-square, and t-test. Short and long sleep durations were not significantly associated with MI reoccurrence (χ2 = 3.603 (3), p = 0.31). However, there was a significant difference in sleep efficiency (χ2 = 11.16 [3], p = 0.01) and overall sleep quality and MI reoccurrence (χ2 = 14.88 [1], p < 0.001). Together, these findings suggest that sleep quality and efficiency may have a stronger influence on cardiovascular health than sleep duration alone