LAUSR

Objectives Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is closely related to all-cause mortality. The aim of this study is to explore the role of REM sleep on the incident heart failure (HF). Methods We selected 4490 participants (2480 women and 2010 men; mean age, 63.2 ± 11.0 years) from the Sleep Heart Health Study. HF was identified as the first occurrence during a mean follow-up period of 10.9 years. REM sleep including percentage of REM sleep and total REM sleep time were monitored using in-home polysomnography at baseline. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was utilized to explore the relationship between REM sleep and HF. Results In total, 436 (9.7%) cases of HF were observed during the entire follow-up period. After adjusting for potential covariates, an increased percentage of REM sleep (per 5%) was independently associated with a reduced incidence of HF [hazard ratio (HR) 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–0.94, P < 0.001]. A similar result was also found between total REM sleep time (increased per 5 min) and incident HF (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–0.99, P < 0.001). Moreover, the fourth quartile of both percentage of REM sleep (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.48–0.88, P = 0.005) and total REM sleep time (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.45–0.90, P = 0.010) had lower risk of incident HF when compared with the first quartile. Conclusion An increased percentage of REM sleep and total REM sleep time were associated with a reduced risk of HF. REM sleep may be a predictor of the incident HF. Clinical Trial Registration [ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT00005275].