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Although sleep is measurable, the assessment of insomnia does not typically rely on using objective measurements. Nevertheless, there may be circumstances where objective assessment is warranted. This chapter describes the role of and place for objective estimates of sleep such as polysomnography, actigraphy, commercially available personal devices, and physiological assays, and weighs up the evidence for these.
Sleep and epilepsy have bidirectional relationships, and various endocrine interactions. Besides the commonly observed increase in seizure frequency in association with sleep loss or with sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, seizures themselves may lead to sleep fragmentation. Furthermore, nocturnal seizures may be associated with more severe and longer lasting respiratory consequences, as well as higher risk of sudden death. It is common for sleep to change during pregnancy in relation to endocrine changes and these changes may in turn affect seizure frequency. Overall, estrogens may have excitatory effects and may increase the consolidation of wakefulness and decrease REM sleep duration. Progesterone tends to have a sedative effect and the decrease in level may lead to more complaints of insomnia pre-menstrual and after menopause. Common sleep disorders are discussed. Obstructive sleep apnea becomes much more common after menopause, and sometimes may be seen in the third trimester of pregnancy as a result of weight gain. Restless legs syndrome is more common in pregnancy. Overall, insomnia is more common in women. Consideration should be given to comorbid primary sleep disorders whenever symptoms of insomnia or hypersomnolence are reported by patients with epilepsy.
The International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Third Edition has classified sleep disorders into seven categories (American Academy of Sleep Medicine 2014): Insomnias, Sleep Related Breathing Disorders, Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence, Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders Parasomnias, Sleep-Related Movement Disorders, and Other sleep disorders. This chapter will focus on insomnia and its management. Sleep problems are common in both people with intellectual disability and autism. This is an area of controversy with the widespread prescribing of melatonin. Sleep management approaches, including sleep hygiene, the evidence base for melatonin, and other hypnotics, will be covered in this chapter.
To examine whether objective sleep parameters are associated with cognitive function (CF) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with chronic insomnia (CI) and whether the severity of these disorders is related to CF.
Method
Thirty patients with MDD with CI attending a tertiary care institution underwent two consecutive nights of polysomnographic (PSG) recording and a battery of neuropsychological tests, which included episodic memory, sustained attention, working memory, and executive function. The severity of MDD and CI was assessed by clinical scales. We examined the relationship between PSG parameters and CF, as well as whether the severity of the disorders is related to CF.
Results
Linear regression analysis revealed that total sleep time (TST) was positively associated with higher learning and recall of episodic memory, as well as better attention. Slow-wave sleep (SWS) showed a positive association with better working memory. Furthermore, wake after sleep onset (WASO) was negatively associated with episodic memory and lower attention. No significant relationships were found between the severity of MDD or CI with CF.
Conclusion
Both sleep duration and depth are positively associated with several aspects of CF in patients with MDD with CI. Conversely, a lack of sleep maintenance is negatively related to CF in these patients. These findings could help identify modifiable therapeutic targets to reduce CF impairment.
Edited by
Deepak Cyril D'Souza, Staff Psychiatrist, VA Connecticut Healthcare System; Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine,David Castle, University of Tasmania, Australia,Sir Robin Murray, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Psychosis Service at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust; Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry
Sleep is a vital biological process, serving an important role in proper neurodevelopment, energy conservation, brain waste clearance, modulation of immune responses, neurocognition, mood, memory consolidation and performance/vigilance. Many of these processes are altered in psychiatric illnesses. There is mounting evidence that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a key role in the sleep/wake cycle. Acute administration and chronic use of THC and cannabis have been shown to alter sleep in small studies of healthy, young people. Sleep disturbances are also part of cannabis withdrawal syndrome and include increased sleep complaints, decreased SWS and increased REM. Sleep disturbances are a promising target for treatment of cannabis use disorder. Given the link between cannabinoids and psychosis, the role of cannabis-induced sleep alterations in psychosis-prone individuals and schizophrenia patients warrants further study.
To compare supraglottoplasty versus non-surgical treatment in children with laryngomalacia and mild, moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnoea.
Methods
Patients were classified based on their obstructive apnoea hypopnoea index on initial polysomnogram, which was compared to their post-treatment polysomnogram.
Results
Eighteen patients underwent supraglottoplasty, and 12 patients had non-surgical treatment. The average obstructive apnoea hypopnoea index after supraglottoplasty fell by 12.68 events per hour (p = 0.0039) in the supraglottoplasty group and 3.3 events per hour (p = 0.3) in the non-surgical treatment group. Comparison of the change in obstructive apnoea hypopnoea index in the surgical versus non-surgical groups did not meet statistical significance (p = 0.09).
Conclusion
All patients with laryngomalacia and obstructive sleep apnoea had a statistically significant improvement in obstructive apnoea hypopnoea index after supraglottoplasty irrespective of obstructive sleep apnoea severity, whereas patients who received non-surgical treatment had more variable and unpredictable results. Direct comparison of the change between the two groups did not find supraglottoplasty to be superior to non-surgical treatment. Larger prospective studies are recommended.
To evaluate the effect of surgical intervention on serum insulin-like growth factor 1 levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.
Methods
A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of adult patients with obstructive sleep apnoea for whom continuous positive airway pressure therapy failed or was refused. All patients underwent polysomnography and serum insulin-like growth factor 1 evaluation pre-operatively and at three months post-operatively. The site of surgery was determined using Müller's manoeuvre and ApneaGraph AG 200.
Results
Fifteen patients were included with a mean age of 38 years: 11 males and 4 females. The mean pre-operative Apnoea–Hypopnoea Index using polysomnography was 53.7 events per hour, and the mean post-operative Apnoea–Hypopnoea Index at three months was 15.3 events per hour (p = 0.0001). The mean pre-operative serum insulin-like growth factor 1 was 160.2 μg/l, while the mean post-operative value was 236.98 μg/l (p = 0.005).
Conclusion
In adult patients with obstructive sleep apnoea for whom continuous positive airway pressure therapy fails, site-specific surgical intervention to treat the obstruction leads to an increase in serum insulin-like growth factor 1 levels.
We provide an umbrella review of the reported polysomnographic changes in patients with neuropsychiatric diseases compared with healthy controls.
Methods
An electronic literature search was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, All EBM databases, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Meta-analyses of case–control studies investigating the polysomnographic changes in patients with neuropsychiatric diseases were included. For each meta-analysis, we estimated the summary effect size using random effects models, the 95% confidence interval, and the 95% prediction interval. We also estimated between-study heterogeneity, evidence of excess significance bias, and evidence of small-study effects. The levels of evidence of polysomnographic changes in neuropsychiatric diseases were ranked as follows: not significant, weak, suggestive, highly suggestive, or convincing.
Results
We identified 27 articles, including 465 case–control studies in 27 neuropsychiatric diseases. The levels of evidence of polysomnographic changes in neuropsychiatric diseases were highly suggestive for increased sleep latency and decreased sleep efficiency (SE) in major depressive disorder (MDD), increased N1 percentage, and decreased N2 percentage, SL and REML in narcolepsy, and decreased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep percentage in Parkinson's disease (PD). The suggestive evidence decreased REM latency in MDD, decreased total sleep time and SE in PD, and decreased SE in posttraumatic stress disorder and in narcolepsy.
Conclusions
The credibility of evidence for sleep characteristics in 27 neuropsychiatric diseases varied across polysomnographic variables and diseases. When considering the patterns of altered PSG variables, no two diseases had the same pattern of alterations, suggesting that specific sleep profiles might be important dimensions for defining distinct neuropsychiatric disorders.
Sleep disturbances are common following traumatic brain injury (TBI) worsening morbidity and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. Post-TBI alterations in sleep architecture require further study.
Objectives
(1) To evaluate polysomnographic measures of sleep architecture in participants with history of TBI compared to controls and as meta-analyses of pooled means. (2) To evaluate effects of timing and severity of TBI on polysomnographic outcomes.
Methods
PRISMA compliant systematic review was conducted of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE and Scopus. Inclusion criteria: 1) reporting polysomnography in the context of TBI and 2) operationalizing TBI using clear/formalized criteria. Data were pooled in random-effects meta-analyses with outcomes expressed as mean differences (MD).
Results
In participants with TBI, sleep was comprised of 19.39% REM sleep, 8.13% N1, 51.18% N2, and 17.53% N3, as determined by meta-analyses of single means. Total sleep time was reduced in chronic (>6 months) TBI compared to acute-intermediate TBI (<6 months) (p=0.01). Compared to controls, participants with TBI differed with increased N1 sleep (MD=0.64%; 95%CI=0.02,1.25; p=0.04), reduced sleep efficiency (MD=-1.65%; 95%CI=-3.18,-0.12; p=0.03), and reduced sleep latency on the multiple sleep latency test (MD=-5.90mins; 95%CI=-10.09,-1.72; p<0.01). On sub-group analyses, participants with mild TBI differed from controls with reduced total sleep time (MD=-29.22mins, 95%CI=-54.16,-4.27; p=0.02). Similarly, participants with acute-intermediate TBI exhibited increased sleep latency compared to controls (MD=8.96mins; 95%CI=4.07,13.85; p<0.01) and differed significantly from participants with chronic TBI (X2(1,N=608)=6.54; p=0.01).
Conclusions
Sleep architecture is altered following TBI with potential implications regarding functional outcomes and recovery. These alterations appear to differ based on severity of injury and time since injury.
Sleep plays a key role in the pathogenesis and clinic of mood disorders. However, few studies have investigated electroencephalographic sleep parameters during the manic phases of Bipolar Disorder (BD).
Objectives
Sleep management is a priority objective in the treatment of the manic phases of BD and the polysomnographic investigation can be a valid tool both in the diagnostic phase and in monitoring clinical progress.
Methods
Twenty-one patients affected by BD, manic phase, were subjected to sleep monitoring via PSG in the acute phase (at the entrance to the ward) and in the resolution phase (near discharge). All participants were also clinically evaluated using Young Manic Rating Scale (YMRS) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Morningness-eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) at different timepoints.
Results
Over the hospitalization time frame there was an increase in quantity (Total Sleep Time) and an improvement in the quality and effectiveness of sleep (Sleep Efficiency). In addition, from the point of view of the EEG structure, clinical improvement was accompanied by an increase in the percentage of REM sleep.
Conclusions
Sleep monitoring by PSG can be a valuable tool in the clinical setting both in the diagnostic phase, “objectively” ascertaining the amount of sleep, and in the prognostic phase, identifying electroencephalographic characteristics that can predict the patient’s progress and response to drug therapy. The improvement in effectiveness and continuity of sleep and the change in its structure that accompanies the resolution of manic symptoms also testifies how the regularization of the sleep-wake rhythm is to be considered a priority in treating manic phases.
To characterize 1) the relationship between laxative use and objective sleep metrics, and 2) the relationship between laxative use and self-reported insomnia symptoms in a convenience sample of middle-aged/elderly patients who completed in-laboratory polysomnography.
Methods:
We cross-sectionally analyzed first-night diagnostic in-laboratory polysomnography data for 2946 patients over the age of 40 (mean age 60.5 years; 48.3% male). Laxative use and medical comorbidities were obtained through self-reported questionnaires. Patient insomnia symptoms were based on self-report. Associations between laxative use and objective sleep continuity were analyzed using multivariable linear regression models. Associations between laxative use and insomnia were assessed using multivariable logistic regression models.
Results:
After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, total recording time, and relevant comorbidities, laxative users had a 7.1% lower sleep efficiency (p < 0.001), 25.5-minute higher wake after sleep onset (p < 0.001), and a 29.4-minute lower total sleep time (p < 0.001) than patients not using laxatives. Laxative users were found to be at greater odds of reporting insomnia symptoms (OR = 1.7, p = 0.024) than patients not using laxatives.
Conclusion:
Laxative use is associated with impairments in objective sleep continuity. Patients using laxatives were also at greater odds of reporting insomnia symptoms.
Protracted abstinence syndrome represent group of attenuated psyc that lead to a persistant sense of discomfort among misuse patients after detoxification and may last for some months.Poor sleep in terms of duration and quality is one of the major symptoms of protracted abstinence syndrome
Objectives
To assess polysomnography parameters as potential risk for relapse over six months
Methods
60 male patients with heroin misuse according to DSM V have been recruited immediately after detoxification phase, they were not receiving other psychactive substances or medications, polysomnography was done in the second week after detoxification to allow washout of medications used during detoxification and then a monthly sleep assessment through sleep diary and daytime sleepiness using visual analogue scale. Relapse was prooved through urine test.
Results
Sample contained 60 male patients with heroin misuse disorder, detoxified successfully with a mean age 35.47±7.32 and addiction severity index total score 3.21±0.22, polysomnography was done to all sample patients one week after detoxification, 20% relapsed by the third month, rising to 30% by the six month. NREM stages I and II, both limb movement and arousal indices showed significant differnce between relapsed and non-relapsed patients.
Conclusions
Sleep disturbance is common among detoxified heroin misuse patients. Polysomnographic parameters such as percentage of NREM I and I, arousal index and limb mouvement index can potentially predict future relpase over six month follow up period.
Poor sleep is a modifiable risk factor for multiple disorders. Frontline treatments (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia) have limitations, prompting a search for alternative approaches. Here, we compare manualized Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Insomnia (MBTI) with a Sleep Hygiene, Education, and Exercise Program (SHEEP) in improving subjective and objective sleep outcomes in older adults.
Methods
We conducted a single-site, parallel-arm trial, with blinded assessments collected at baseline, post-intervention and 6-months follow-up. We randomized 127 participants aged 50–80, with a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score ⩾5, to either MBTI (n = 65) or SHEEP (n = 62), both 2 hr weekly group sessions lasting 8 weeks. Primary outcomes included PSQI and Insomnia Severity Index, and actigraphy- and polysomnography-measured sleep onset latency (SOL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO).
Results
Intention-to-treat analysis showed reductions in insomnia severity in both groups [MBTI: Cohen's effect size d = −1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) −1.61 to −0.89; SHEEP: d = −0.69, 95% CI −0.96 to −0.43], with significantly greater improvement in MBTI. Sleep quality improved equivalently in both groups (MBTI: d = −1.19; SHEEP: d = −1.02). No significant interaction effects were observed in objective sleep measures. However, only MBTI had reduced WASOactigraphy (MBTI: d = −0.30; SHEEP: d = 0.02), SOLactigraphy (MBTI: d = −0.25; SHEEP: d = −0.09), and WASOPSG (MBTI: d = −0.26; SHEEP (d = −0.18). There was no change in SOLPSG. No participants withdrew because of adverse effects.
Conclusions
MBTI is effective at improving subjective and objective sleep quality in older adults, and could be a valid alternative for persons who have failed or do not have access to standard frontline therapies.
Aging is marked by cognitive decline, which in the case of Alzheimer’s disease is associated with tremendous global economic burden. Identifying modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline is therefore of paramount importance. In this chapter, we describe how aging compromises sleep quality and sleep architecture at a rate that parallels normal age-related cognitive decline. We argue that understanding the neurocognitive functions of sleep – frontal lobe restoration, memory consolidation, and metabolite clearance – and how such functions change in later life will be key to informing why some older individuals maintain healthy cognitive functioning and other older individuals do not. Critically, by investigating how sleep, cognition, and aging interact, researchers and clinicians can develop sleep-related treatments that target preventing, or at least ameliorating, pathologies such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The difficulty to recruit homogeneous samples of insomniacs requires alternative approaches for sleep studies. Acoustic perturbation in healthy volunteers made it possible to determine an experimental model of acute situational insomnia in order to investigate the effects of classic and novel hypnotic compounds. Unfortunately, the traditional scoring parameters of sleep are inadequate to provide reliable information for defining the neurophysiological bases of insomnia and for evaluating the efficacy of hypnotic drugs. Recent studies on the microstructure of sleep have permitted to identify a specific EEG feature, the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP), correlated with the subjective appreciation of sleep quality. Comparing placebo, zolpidem, zopiclone, lorazepam and triazolam, given at equivalent therapeutic doses in middle-aged healthy volunteer subjects under basal conditions and under acute situational insomnia, provided non-significant information when using classical sleep parameters whereas CAP rate (the percentage ratio of CAP time to non-REM sleep time) permitted to discriminate the basal nights from the perturbed nights and the drug nights from the placebo nights. These data have been confirmed in clinical studies using zolpidem versus placebo in chronic insomniacs.
The efficacy of zolpidem, a non benzodiazepine hypnotic agent with a short elimination half life, was reviewed, analysing more than 50 international clinical trials published since 1986. The hypnotic activity of zolpidem has been explored in different patient populations including normal volunteers, general practice outpatients and psychiatric out- or in-patients with varying sleep disorders; both transient and chronic. Assessment methods used have included objective and subjective measures of hypnotic efficacy for different treatment durations, with results confirming that 10 mg is superior to placebo. Zolpidem was shown to be superior in most trials on sleep parameters such as total sleep time, sleep onset latency and nocturnal awakenings, but total REM sleep and REM latency were usually unmodified. Zolpidem maintained normal sleep physiology as demonstrated by the preservation of slow wave stages and no, or minimal, effects on sleep architecture after abrupt discontinuation. Consequently, 10 mg is the recommended dose for the short-term treatment of insomnia in the non-elderly; in elderly patients 5 mg has been shown to be effective at inducing sleep whilst giving an optimum safety profile.
This chapter presents one of the most common pediatric surgeries, adenotonsillectomy. The author reviews in the indications for adenotonsillectomy in the setting of a child with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The perioperative considerations for this extremely high risk population of children with OSA is considered with respect to the anesthetic considerations.
Objectives: Autobiographical memory dysfunction is a marker of vulnerability to depression. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) experience high rates of depression and memory impairment, and autobiographical memory impairments have been observed compared to healthy controls; however, these groups were not age-matched. This study aimed to determine whether individuals with untreated OSA have impaired autobiographical memory when compared to age-matched controls, and to assess the quality of autobiographical memories from three broad time points. Methods: A total of 44 participants with OSA (M age=49.4±13.0) and 44 age-matched controls (M age=50.0±13.1) completed the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) to assess semantic and episodic memories from three different life stages, and 44 OSA participants and 37 controls completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to assess overgeneral memory recall (an inability to retrieve specific memories). Results: OSA participants had significantly poorer semantic recall of early adult life on the AMI (p<.001), and more overgeneral autobiographical memories recalled on the AMT (=.001), than controls. Poor semantic recall from early adult life was significantly correlated with more depressive symptoms (p=0.006) and lower education (p<0.02), while higher overgeneral memory recall was significantly associated with older age (p=.001). Conclusions: A specific deficit in semantic autobiographical recall was observed in individuals with OSA. OSA patients recalled more overgeneral memories, suggesting that aspects of the sleep disorder affect their ability to recollect specific details of events from their life. These cognitive features of OSA may contribute to the high incidence of depression in this population. (JINS 2019, 25, 266–274)
To examine the diagnostic value of hyoid cephalometrics in predicting retroglossal obstruction severity in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnea syndrome.
Methods
Ninety-six obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnea syndrome patients diagnosed by polysomnography were recruited. Polysomnography was repeated with a nasopharyngeal tube after eliminating rhinal and palatopharyngeal obstruction. Cervical vertebra lateral films and hyoid cephalometric measurements were obtained, including the distances of the hyoid to the: mental tubercle, prevertebral plane, mental tubercle coronal plane and mental tubercle horizontal plane.
Results
The apnoea-hypopnoea index for nasopharyngeal tube polysomnography was significantly correlated with distances from the hyoid to: prevertebral plane (r = 0.350), coronal plane (r = 0.477), horizontal plane (r = 0.529) and mental tubercle (r = 0.560). It was strongly correlated with the hyoid to mental tubercle distance/hyoid to prevertebral plane distance value (r = 0.683), and (hyoid to coronal plane distance plus hyoid to horizontal plane distance)/hyoid to prevertebral plane distance value (r = 0.675).
Conclusion
Obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnea syndrome patients with longer hyoid to mental tubercle distances, and/or more inferior and posterior hyoid bone position, are more prone to retroglossal stenosis and obstruction. Hyoid cephalometrics are valuable for predicting retroglossal obstruction severity.
Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with cognitive impairment but the relationships between specific biomarkers and neurocognitive domains remain unclear. The present study examined the influence of common health comorbidities on these relationships. Adults with suspected OSA (N=60; 53% male; M age=52 years; SD=14) underwent neuropsychological evaluation before baseline polysomnography (PSG). Apneic syndrome severity, hypoxic strain, and sleep architecture disturbance were assessed through PSG. Methods: Depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CESD), pain, and medical comorbidity (Charlson Comorbidity Index) were measured via questionnaires. Processing speed, attention, vigilance, memory, executive functioning, and motor dexterity were evaluated with cognitive testing. A winnowing approach identified 9 potential moderation models comprised of a correlated PSG variable, comorbid health factor, and cognitive performance. Results: Regression analyses identified one significant moderation model: average blood oxygen saturation (AVO2) and depression predicting recall memory, accounting for 31% of the performance variance, p<.001. Depression was a significant predictor of recall memory, p<.001, but AVO2 was not a significant predictor. The interaction between depression and AVO2 was significant, accounting for an additional 10% of the variance, p<.001. The relationship between low AVO2 and low recall memory performance emerged when depression severity ratings approached a previously established clinical cutoff score (CESD=16). Conclusions: This study examined sleep biomarkers with specific neurocognitive functions among individuals with suspected OSA. Findings revealed that depression burden uniquely influence this pathophysiological relationship, which may aid clinical management. (JINS, 2018, 28, 864–875)