People with heart failure are much more likely to be hospitalised if they have ongoing sleep problems, a new study has found.

Heart failure describes a deterioration in the heart's efficiency, when it fails to pump or fill as normal and can no longer provide as much blood as the body needs to carry out its usual functions. Swollen ankles, breathlessness and extreme tiredness are key symptoms.

Around 90,000 people in Ireland are affected and it is responsible for 20,000 hospital admissions here every year.

Swedish scientists looked at almost 500 patients who had been hospitalised with heart failure over a 12-month period. Their physical and mental health were assessed, including their sleeping habits.

The study found that patients with ongoing sleep problems were twice as likely to be hospitalised compared to those without sleep problems.

According to the scientists, these findings ‘underline the impact that sleep can have on health'.

"Sleep is important for everyone and we all have to sleep to feel good. We know that sleep problems are common among patients with heart failure. But until now there was no data on whether poor sleep persists over time and how that relates to hospitalisations."

"Our study shows that some patients with heart failure have chronic sleep problems and this more than doubles their risk of unplanned hospitalisations. We need to ask all our heart failure patients whether they sleep well and if not, find out why," they said.

They noted that some people have ‘poor sleep hygiene', which means they maintain habits that may prevent them from having a good night's sleep, such as drinking coffee before going to bed or having a bedroom that is too hot or too cold.

"Patients need to have realistic expectations. One night of poor sleep is unlikely to be a cause for concern, and sleep patterns naturally change with age. But patients who say they consistently have poor sleep should be taken seriously," added the team from the University Hospital of Linköping.

Details of these findings were presented at EuroHeartCare 2014, the annual meeting of the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (CCNAP) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), in Norway.

For more information on heart health, see our Heart Disease Clinic here