# Sleep Variability and Cardiometabolic Health Among Women

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $821,982

## Abstract

Project Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality has declined significantly over the past two decades, but there has been
a recent rise in CVD deaths among younger women (ages 35–54), for reasons yet unknown. The prevalence of
poor sleep has steadily increased and is more common among women. There is a growing body of compelling
evidence linking poor quality and short duration sleep to increased CVD risk. Poor sleep could be a potential
cause for the higher incidence of CVD-related deaths among younger women, yet the mechanisms are not
known. Women may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of poor sleep on cardiac health, as they face unique
sleep challenges at different life stages, including inadequate sleep in the childbearing and/or postpartum
periods, and sleep disturbances due to hormonal changes during the menopausal transition and post-
menopause. Women may also differentially experience psychosocial risk factors such as depression and
increased strain due to caregiving responsibilities, which have been linked to poor sleep and increased CVD
risk. Our preliminary data shows that short sleep duration and poor quality sleep are associated with CVD risk
factors among women, including obesity, blood pressure, and inflammation. A majority of women now report
irregular sleep, a high day-to-day variability in sleep duration and timing, as their habitual sleep pattern. Whereas
the association between short and long sleep duration and obesity, hypertension, and CVD has long been
recognized, irregular sleep has been mostly overlooked as a possible contributor to CVD. Sleep timing and
variability has also been disproportionately understudied in racial/ethnic minorities and women. Capitalizing on
our two racially and ethnically diverse cohorts of women that have been well-characterized for sleep patterns,
we propose to investigate variability in sleep timing as a potential new risk factor for CVD among women at two
planned follow-up time points. We will leverage the ongoing Go Red for Women community-based cohort study
of 506 women and the national Research Goes Red weight study cohort of 300 women to conduct analyses of
the link between objectively-measured variable sleep timing, a highly modifiable lifestyle behavior, and CVD risk
among women (Aim 1); determine if there are differences associated with ethnicity and menopausal status, and
if caregiving, stress, and depression may mediate the sleep irregularity-CVD risk association (Aim 1a); and
determine whether variable sleep is associated with low brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, a precursor to
CVD (Aim 2). Variable sleep timing may be an unrecognized contributor to increased CVD risk among women.
Variable sleep timing is a highly prevalent, easily modifiable behavior, that could be targeted in public health
campaigns to reduce the risk of CVD. Findings from our proposed data would inform the development of public
health guidelines and clinical recommendations addressing sleep sch...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10882958
- **Project number:** 1R01HL169991-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Brooke Anne Aggarwal
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $821,982
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-15 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10882958

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10882958, Sleep Variability and Cardiometabolic Health Among Women (1R01HL169991-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10882958. Licensed CC0.

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