Poor sleep habits add to the risk of asthma among individuals at high genetic susceptibility to the disease, according to a study published in BMJ Open Respiratory Research.¹

To examine the impact of sleep on the risk of asthma, a team of researchers from China analysed data of 455,405 participants, aged 38-73 years, between 2006 and 2010 from the UK Biobank. They also evaluated the effect of a healthy sleep pattern on genetic susceptibility to asthma. The participants were followed for a period of 10 years. Polygenic risk scores to assess genetic susceptibility and comprehensive sleep scores were determined.

During the 10 years of follow-up, 17,836 people developed asthma. Patients with the highest polygenic risk scores were at 47% higher risk of asthma with hazard ratio of 1.47. Poor sleep patterns increased the risk of asthma by 55% with HR of 1.55. with high genetic susceptibility and poor sleep were at 2-folds greater risk of developing asthma with HR of 2.22. However, people with low, intermediate and high genetic susceptibility and healthy sleep habits were at a lower risk of asthma with HRs of 0.56, 0.59 and 0.63, respectively. Improving sleep traits (chronotype, sleep duration, snoring, insomnia, and excessive daytime sleepiness) could prevent 19% of asthma.

This study highlights the influence of sleeping habits on the risk of asthma; all five sleep traits of chronotype, sleep duration, insomnia, snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness) had a strong association with asthma. It shows that poor sleep habits augmented the risk of asthma in individuals at high genetic risk. On the other hand, healthy sleep habits were found to mitigate the risk of asthma regardless of the genetic susceptibility of the person. Sleep habits may be a modifiable risk factor for individuals at high genetic risk. Evaluation of sleeping habits therefore should be a part of assessment of risk of asthma. “Early detection and management of sleep disorders could be beneficial in reducing asthma incidence,” note the authors.

Reference

1. Bowen Xiang, et al. Highlighting the importance of healthy sleep patterns in the risk of adult asthma under the combined effects of genetic susceptibility: a large-scale prospective cohort study of 455 405 participants. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2023 Mar;10(1):e001535. doi: 10.1136/bmjresp-2022-001535.