Self‐Reported Sleep Duration, Napping, and Incident Heart Failure: Prospective Associations in the British Regional Heart Study

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations between self‐reported nighttime sleep duration and daytime sleep and incident heart failure (HF) in men with and without preexisting cardiovascular disease (CVD). DESIGN: Population‐based prospective study. SETTING: General practices in 24 British towns. PARTICIPANTS: Men aged 60–79 without prevalent HF followed for 9 years (N = 3,723). MEASUREMENTS: Information on incident HF cases was obtained from primary care records. Assessment of sleep was based on self‐reported sleep duration at night and daytime napping. RESULTS: Self‐reported short nighttime sleep duration and daytime sleep of longer than 1 hour were associated with preexisting CVD, breathlessness, depression, poor health, physical inactivity, and manual social class. In all men, self‐reported daytime sleep of longer than 1 hour duration was associated with significantly greater risk of HF after adjustment for potential confounders (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.06–2.71) than in those who reported no daytime napping. Self‐reported nighttime sleep duration was not associated with HF risk except in men with preexisting CVD (<6 hours: aHR = 2.91, 95% CI = 1.31–6.45; 6 hours: aHR = 1.89, 95% CI = 0.89–4.03; 8 hours: aHR = 1.29, 95% CI = 0.61–2.71; ≥9 hours: aHR = 1.80, 905% CI = 0.71–4.61 vs nighttime sleep of 7 hours). Snoring was not associated with HF risk. CONCLUSION: Self‐reported daytime napping of longer than 1 hour is associated with greater risk of HF in older men. Self‐reported short sleep (<6 hours) in men with CVD is associated with particularly high risk of developing HF.