"Sleep is important for biological recovery and takes around a third of our lifetime, but in modern society more and more people complain of insomnia," said first author Qiao He. "For example, it is reported that approximately one-third of the general population in Germany has suffered from insomnia symptoms."
"Researchers have found associations between insomnia and poor health outcomes," she noted. "But the links between insomnia and heart disease or stroke have been inconsistent."
The current meta-analysis assessed the association between insomnia symptoms and incidence or death from cardiovascular disease (acute myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, heart failure), stroke, or a combination of events. Insomnia symptoms included difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, early-morning awakening, and non-restorative sleep.