Evaluation of the Effect of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Women in the Postmenoposal Period in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: Menopause is a period of life in which women are at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and sleep problems. In this study, we aimed to determine the effect of physical activity on CVR and sleep quality in women in this period. Methods: The study was conducted with 342 postmenopausal women (PMW) who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria who applied to the outpatient clinic between August and December 2018 at Health Sciences University Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital. Women were given sociodemographic data form, International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form(IPAQ-SF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) , calculated CVR estimation with Framingham formulation. The data were evaluated with SPSS 23 program. Results: In our study the mean age of women was 60.77 ± 9.2 years. The rate of patients with a 10-year CVR was 66.1%. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality (PSQI) scorewas 9.05 ± 4.33 and the rate of good sleep quality (PSQI ≤5) was 24.6%. Physical activity (PA) level was found to be 848.68 ± 1213.08 MET-min /week. It was observed that the state of being physically inactive was associated with the presence of a diagnosis of hypertension (p = 0.026). It was observed that those with severe PA levels in women had low body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.035), and increased CVD as the BMI and daytime dysfunction increased. Cardiovascular risk (CVR), sleep quality score and subparameters did not change according to physical activity. While there was a significant difference between the severity of PA level and Framingham risk score (FRS) (p = 0.032), those with high PA levels had the lowest FRS. Sleep quality and subparameters did not change according to PA level. In the presence of obesity, CVR, habitual sleep afficiency and sleep disorder component scores were shown to increase. Conclusions: From the pre-menopausal period, women should be directed to perform appropriate PA to reduce obesity and prevent the onset or progression of CVD. Sleep hygiene trainings can be given to improve sleep quality in the postmenopausal period.