Poor sleep could explain why some patients with lung disease fare worse than others.
- An American study shows that attacks of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are linked to insomnia.
- In France, 5 to 10% of people over 45 suffer from this lung disease.
95% more outbreaks compared to those who have a good sleep: this is the risk incurred by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, who do not sleep enough.
COPD is a chronic respiratory disease caused by permanent and progressive inflammation and obstruction of the bronchi.
Over time, these flare-ups, which manifest as worsening shortness of breath and cough, can cause irreversible lung damage and hasten disease progression and mortality.
Fall in antibodies
Published in the journal sleeping, These findings may partly explain why African American patients with COPD tend to fare worse than white patients said first author Aaron Baugh, MD, a clinical associate in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, critical care, allergy, and sleep from the University of California and the Cardiovascular Research Institute.
“African Americans are overrepresented in low-income neighborhoods, where people are less likely to get good quality sleep. They may live in crowded spaces, with multiple roommates, and have less comfortable sleeping conditions, like a couch, and they may have a job with a flexible schedule that lends itself to sleep disruption,” says Baugh, noting that research shows that lack of sleep is associated with lower infection-fighting antibodies and protective cytokines.
Cytokines are essential molecules produced naturally by our immune system.
Over a three-year period, the researchers recorded flare-ups, defined as a short-term worsening of symptoms requiring treatment, and compared their incidence with self-reported sleep quality data from 1,647 COPD patients.
They found that poor sleep increases the risk of flare-ups by 25-95%.
A more pronounced effect than the impact of smoking
Indeed, at the start of the study, the average age of the participants was 65 years and the average stage of the disease was moderate. More than half of the participants (57%) were men; 80% were white and 14% African American.
All were smokers or former smokers, which is not surprising since in more than 80% of casesthe cause of COPD is smoking.
Researchers found that, compared to participants with optimal sleep, those with poor baseline sleep were 25% more likely to suffer a relapse within a year, and almost 95% in the following year. next year for those whose sleep was the worst.
“This may represent a more pronounced effect than the impact of smoking over a 40-year period, compared to a 60-year period,” Baugh said.
Sleep hygiene
African Americans were 63% to report poor sleep compared to 52% for white participants.
“While factors like health insurance coverage or respiratory risks may play a significant role in disease severity, poor sleep may take on even greater significance as the social status of African Americans improves,” Baugh said.
“This can lead to a kind of paradox: by reducing one risk factor, a new risk factor – poor sleep – can take its place,” he adds.
Lead author and pulmonologist Neeta Thakur, from the University of California, San Fransciso School of Medicine, said sleep issues are often overlooked by doctors assessing patients with COPD.
Still, sleep hygiene and sleep aids “can dramatically improve their health,” she said.