Insomnia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Insomnia, including details on sleep disorders, treatment, medication.

Schizophrenia patients with predominantly positive symptoms have more disturbed sleep-wake cycles measured by actigraphy.

Afonso P, Brissos S, Figueira ML, Paiva T

Lisbon's Psychiatric Hospitalar Center (CHPL), Lisbon, Portugal. pedromafonso@netcabo.pt

Sleep disturbances are widespread in schizophrenia, and one important concern is to determine the impact of this disruption on self-reported sleep quality and quality of life (QoL). Our aim was to evaluate the sleep-wake cycle in a sample of patients with schizophrenia (SZ), and whether sleep patterns differ between patients with predominantly negative versus predominantly positive symptoms, as well as its impact on sleep quality and QoL. Twenty-three SZ outpatients were studied with 24 h continuous wrist-actigraphy during 7 days. The quality of sleep was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the self-reported QoL was evaluated with the World Health Organization Quality of Life - Abbreviated version (WHOQOL-Bref). About half of the studied population presented an irregular sleep-wake cycle. We found a trend for more disrupted sleep-wake patterns in patients with predominantly positive symptoms, who also had a trend self-reported worse quality of sleep and worse QoL in all domains. Overall, patients with worse self-reported QoL demonstrated worse sleep quality. Our findings suggest that SZ patients are frequently affected with sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions; these may have a negative impact on rehabilitation strategies. Moreover, poor sleep may play a role in sustaining poor quality of life in SZ patients.

Published 16 August 2011 in Psychiatry Res, 189(1): 62-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

Articles on Insomnia published 9 August 2011:

Impact of stimulant pharmacotherapy on sleep quality: post hoc analyses of 2 large, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials.   J Clin Psychiatry, 72(7): 903-8.

[Abstract] [Full-text]

Eszopiclone for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder and associated insomnia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.   J Clin Psychiatry, 72(7): 892-7.

[Abstract] [Full-text]

Improved insomnia symptoms and sleep-related next-day functioning in patients with comorbid major depressive disorder and insomnia following concomitant zolpidem extended-release 12.5 mg and escitalopram treatment: a randomized controlled trial.   J Clin Psychiatry, 72(7): 914-28.

[Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Insomnia published 1 August 2011:

Singular spectrum analysis of sleep EEG in insomnia.   J Med Syst, 35(4): 457-61.

In the present study, the Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) is applied to sleep EEG segments collected from healthy volunteers and patients diagnosed by either psycho physiological insomnia or paradoxical insomnia. Then, the resulting singular spectra computed for both C3 and C4 recordings are assigned as the features to the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architectures for EEG classification in diagnose. In tests, singular spectrum of particular sleep stages such as awake, REM, stage1 and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Computer based synchronization analysis on sleep EEG in insomnia.   J Med Syst, 35(4): 517-20.

Inter-hemispheric sleep EEG coherence is studied in 10 subjects with psycho physiological insomnia, in 10 with paradoxical insomnia, and in 10 matched controls through different states of the sleep/wakefulness cycle. Inter hemispheric EEG coherence between central electrode pairs are compared to each other within these groups. A linear measure called as Coherence Function (CF) and a nonlinear measure called as Mutual Information (MI) are performed by using the Information Theory Toolbox in the ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Insomnia published 13 July 2011:

The medicalization of sleeplessness: a public health concern.   Am J Public Health, 101(8): 1429-33.

Sleeplessness, a universal condition with diverse causes, may be increasingly diagnosed and treated (or medicalized) as insomnia. We examined the trend in sleeplessness complaints, diagnoses, and prescriptions of sedative hypnotics in physician office visits from 1993 to 2007. Consistent with the medicalization hypothesis, sleeplessness complaints and insomnia diagnoses increased over time and were far outpaced by prescriptions for sedative hypnotics. Insomnia may be a public health concern, ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Insomnia published 12 July 2011:

A randomized cross-over study to compare raltegravir and efavirenz (SWITCH-ER study).   AIDS, 25(12): 1481-7.

[Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Insomnia published 11 July 2011:

Seasonal variations in sleep problems at latitude 63°-65° in Norway: The Nord-Trondelag Health Study, 1995-1997.   Am J Epidemiol, 174(2): 147-53.

Most studies on seasonal variability in sleep have asked participants if they think their sleep quality varies with the seasons, which reveals the research hypothesis to the participants. To date, the hypothesis of seasonal variation in sleep has not been tested in a large population-based fully blinded study. The aim of the current study was to investigate monthly variations in sleep problems in a geographic region of Norway with large seasonal differences in daytime light. Using data from a ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

© 2004-2011 Insomnia Research Today. All Rights Reserved.