Prospective Study of Sleep Talking and Risk of Stroke

Background: The potential clinical implication of sleep talking in relation to stroke has not been explored to date. This study aimed to prospectively examine the association between sleep talking and the risk of developing stroke in a community-based cohort.

Methods and results: Included were 8001 participants (mean age, 54 years) of the Kailuan Study, China. Sleep talking was measured by a questionnaire in 2012. Cases of incident stroke were confirmed by review of medical records. Cox proportional hazards models were used to explore the association between sleep talking and stroke, adjusting for several sleep parameters (ie, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, sleep duration, snoring, and use of hypnotics) and other potential confounders. During 8 years of follow-up, 333 incident stroke cases were identified. Relative to participants without sleep talking at baseline, those with sleep talking had a higher risk of developing stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.30 [95% CI, 1.03-1.65]), adjusting for potential confounders. Compared with participants without probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and sleep talking, those with sleep talking and probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder had a higher risk of stroke (adjusted HR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.40-2.66]).

Conclusions: The presence of sleep talking was associated with a higher risk of developing stroke. Future studies with cases of clinically confirmed sleep talking and a longer follow-up would be appropriate to further investigate this association.