STUDY OBJECTIVES

To investigate the relationship between sleep duration and insomnia severity and the risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study.

SETTING

Community-based.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 3,430 adults aged 35 years or older.

INTERVENTION

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

During a median 15.9 year (interquartile range, 13.1 to 16.9) follow-up period, 420 cases developed cardiovascular disease and 901 cases died. A U-shape association between sleep duration and all-cause death was found: the age and gender-adjusted relative risks (95% confidence interval [CI]) of all-cause death (with 7 h of daily sleep being considered for the reference group) for individuals reporting < or = 5 h, 6 h, 8 h, and > or = 9 h were 1.15 (0.91-1.45), 1.02 (0.85-1.25), 1.05 (0.88-1.27), and 1.43 (1.16-1.75); P for trend, 0.019. However, the relationship between sleep duration and risk of CVD were linear. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk (95% CI) for all-cause death (using individuals without insomnia) were 1.02 (0.86-1.20) for occasional insomnia, 1.15 (0.92-1.42) for frequent insomnia, and 1.70 (1.16-2.49) for nearly everyday insomnia (P for trend, 0.028). The multivariate adjusted relative risk (95% CI) was 2.53 (1.71-3.76) for all-cause death and 2.07 (1.11-3.85) for CVD rate in participants sleeping > or = 9 h and for those with frequent insomnia.

CONCLUSIONS

Sleep duration and insomnia severity were associated with all-cause death and CVD events among ethnic Chinese in Taiwan. Our data indicate that an optimal sleep duration (7-8 h) predicted fewer deaths.