Daytime dozing linked to increased stroke

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Stroke risk was two to four times greater in those who doze regularly -- unintentionally falling asleep in the daytime, a U.S. study finds.

Lead author Bernadette Boden-Albala of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York suggests that daytime dozing "may be an important and novel stroke risk factor."

In a prospective study involving 2,153 participants with an average follow-up of 2.3 years, the risk of stroke was 2.6 times greater for those classified as doing "some dozing" compared to those with "no dozing." Those who had "significant dozing" had a 4.5 times higher risk, Boden-Albala says.

"Those are significant numbers," Boden-Albala says in a statement. "We were surprised that the impact was that high for such a short period of time."

Researchers studied a community-based cohort part of the long-term Northern Manhattan Study, which began in 1990 and included men and women age 40 and older. The study participants were 60 percent Hispanic, 20 percent African-American and 18 percent white.

The study finds 44 percent reported no dozing, 47 percent reported some dozing and 9 percent reported significant dozing. In the two-years follow-up, the researchers detected 40 strokes and 127 vascular events.

The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.