Young Adults With Insomnia Show Early Cardiac Dysfunction in Case-Control Study

Young adults with insomnia disorder demonstrated worse left ventricular global longitudinal strain than healthy good sleepers, according to findings from a case–control study investigating subclinical cardiovascular disease risk markers. In an analysis adjusted for body mass index, participants with insomnia had a mean strain of −22.8 (SD 2.2) compared to −24.3 (SD 1.5) in good sleeping controls (F[1, 39] = 7.42, p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.16), representing an estimated marginal mean difference of 1.47% and an adjusted R2 of 0.18.

The study evaluated a community-based sample of 43 healthy young adults aged 21 to 42 years, with a mean age of 28.7 years, consisting of 18 individuals diagnosed with insomnia disorder under the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Third Edition (ICSD-3) and 25 good sleeping controls. Researchers evaluated indices of cardiac function using two-dimensional echocardiography, assessed endothelial dysfunction via flow-mediated endothelial dilation, and measured arterial stiffness using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity.

Despite the observed impairment in left ventricular strain among individuals with insomnia, the researchers identified no differences between groups in endothelial function, arterial stiffness, or other cardiac function parameters. The study authors noted that worse left ventricular strain may reflect subtle, subclinical myocardial dysfunction preceding overt cardiovascular disease or changes in other cardiac indices, emphasizing that longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether this finding indicates future cardiovascular risk.

Subject of Research: Early cardiac dysfunction and left ventricular strain in young adults with insomnia disorder

Article Title: Markers of early cardiac dysfunction in young adults with insomnia disorder: a case–control study

Article References: Petrov, M. E., Youngstedt, S. D., Angadi, S. S., Jiao, N., Mookadam, F., Abdalla, M., & St-Onge, M.-P. (2026). Markers of early cardiac dysfunction in young adults with insomnia disorder: a case–control study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 22(1), Article 213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44470-026-00217-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44470-026-00217-1

Keywords: insomnia disorder, cardiac dysfunction, left ventricular strain, echocardiography, cardiovascular risk, arterial stiffness, young adults, case-control study, Markers, early, cardiac, dysfunction