[Do sleep abnormalities contribute to cardiovascular risk in bipolar disorders?].

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this review is to summarize the state of knowledge concerning the relationship between cardiovascular risk, sleep abnormalities, and emotional reactivity in patients with bipolar disorder (BD).

METHOD: A scientific literature search of international articles was performed during August and September 2014 using the PubMed electronic database. We used the following MeSH terms : "Bipolar Disorders", "Cardiovascular risk", "Emotional reactivity", "Sleep apnea", and "Sleep disorder".

RESULTS

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder strongly associated with BD, which tends to fragment sleep. OSA is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. Furthermore, emotional hyper-reactivity is favored by "hostility" temperaments, BD and sleep deprivation. The combination of these factors interacts and also results in an increased cardiovascular risk. Taken as a whole, both sleep disorders and emotional hyper-reactivity seem to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases in BD.

CONCLUSION

These data emphasize the central role of sleep abnormalities and emotional reactivity in the vulnerability of BD to express cardiovascular diseases. From a clinical point of view, these data also emphasize the importance of identifying and care for sleep abnormalities in BD in order to improve BD outcome.