Poor sleep quality ups mortality risk in patients with chronic respiratory diseases

Patients with an overlap of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma (ACO) show worse sleep than those with asthma but better than COPD patients, according to a study. Poor sleep quality may increase mortality risk.

A team of investigators used data from the UK Biobank to compare the baseline characteristics, sleep patterns, and mortality rates of 14,326 COPD, asthma, and ACO patients. They also identified factors affecting sleep and mortality through multivariable logistic and linear regression analyses.

Patients with COPD were older, had higher smoking rates and mortality than those with ACO or asthma (p<0.001). Patients with asthma had the highest BMI (29.76 kg/m²) and hypertension prevalence (46.9 percent), while those with ACO had the highest diabetes prevalence (14.2 percent; p<0.001).

Furthermore, asthma patients had the poorest sleep quality, with higher rights of short sleep duration, insomnia, and daytime dozing compared with COPD and ACO patients (p<0.001).

In multivariable analysis, mortality risk was higher in COPD than ACO patients (p<0.001), and poor sleep scores and diabetes significantly correlated with higher mortality (p<0.001). Finally, patients with asthma had lower sleep scores than those with ACO (p<0.001).

“Poor sleep quality, along with diabetes and smoking, was linked to higher mortality,” the investigators said. “Addressing sleep disturbances may reduce mortality in ACO and COPD patients, warranting further research on targeted interventions.”