Sleep medicineApr 5, 2021

Links between sleep length and quality and new cases of heart disease, cancer, and death in 407,500 UK adults

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 3, 2026

Abstract

In a cohort of 407,500 individuals, sleep durations of ≤5 hours and ≥9 hours were both associated with higher risks of all-cause mortality.

Sleep duration of ≤5 hours was linked to an all-cause mortality risk increase of 25%.
Sleep duration of ≥9 hours was associated with a 30% higher risk of all-cause mortality.
Both short and long sleep durations increased risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and incidence.
Long sleep duration (≥9 hours) was also connected to a 19% higher risk of cancer mortality.
Snoring, insomnia, and narcolepsy were identified as independent risk factors for an increased incidence of CVD.

Simplified

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have investigated the associations of sleep duration and sleep quality with incident cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, and mortality in the same large population. This study aimed at estimating the independent risk factors of long or short sleep durations and several typical characteristics of poor sleep quality for incident CVDs, cancer, and mortality.

METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, 407 500 individuals were enrolled. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (HR, 95%CI) of associations of sleep duration and quality with incident CVDs, cancer, and mortality.

RESULTS: Compared with the sleep duration of 7 h, sleep duration of ≤5 h and ≥9 h were both associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.16-1.34 and HR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.22-1.38, respectively), CVD mortality (HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.09-1.49 and HR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.16-1.50, respectively), and CVD incidence (HR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.16-1.31 and HR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02-1.15, respectively). Additionally, long sleep duration (≥9 h) was associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality (HR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.10-1.30) and cancer incidence (HR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.04-1.12). Moreover, CVD incidence was significantly associated with snoring, insomnia and narcolepsy, increasing the risk by 7%, 26%, and 20%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Long sleep durations may substantially increase the risk of mortality and morbidity. Snoring, insomnia, and narcolepsy were independent risk factors for incident CVD.

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Links between sleep length and quality and new cases of heart disease, cancer, and death in 407,500 UK adults

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