David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Bipolar quality of life and functioning reduced by sleep complaints
By Liam Davenport
28 November 2008
Sleep Breath 2008; Advance online publication
Among bipolar disorder patients, sleep complaints impair both quality of life and global function, Brazilian scientists have discovered in findings that highlight the need for research into the effect of sleep on neurochemical pathways.
Previous studies have revealed that bipolar disorder patients experience sleep disturbances such as frequent nighttime awakenings, poor quality of sleep, reduction in total sleep time, and nightmares. In addition, while insomnia is common during depressive episodes, patients also report hypersomnia, with prolonged nighttime sleep, difficulty wakening, and excessive daytime sleepiness.
To determine the impact of sleep disorders on quality of life, disability, and global function in bipolar disorder patients, Larriany Giglio, from Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, and colleagues studied 190 bipolar I disorder patients.
The participants were administered the World Health Organization?s Quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Brief), the Sheehan Disability Scales, and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). The presence of sleep complaints was defined as a present score of at least 17 on questions 4, 5, and 6 of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).
In all, 111 patients had sleep complaints. There were no significant differences between patients with and without sleep complaints in terms of gender, age, year of illness, and Young Mania Rating Scale scores. However, patients with sleep complaints had significantly higher scores on the HAM-D than those without, at 12.68 versus 5.36, and a higher age of onset, at 26.94 years versus 23.32 years.
Patients with sleep complaints had worse quality of life scores than those without on all domains, with the differences in scores on the physical and psychological domains indicating worse impairment than on the social and environmental domains, at 14.72%, 14.15%, 8.35%, and 6.68%, respectively.
Furthermore, patients with sleep complaints had impairments on the Sheehan disability scales of work, social comportment, and environment relative to those without sleep complaints, and significantly reduced GAF scores, at 59.88 versus 66.54.
The team writes in the journal Sleep and Breathing: ?Considering that sleep dysfunction leads to alteration in neurotrophic and transcription factors; these factors are very important for maintaining the normal neuronal plasticity; sleep dysfunction has been described in bipolar disorder, our results suggest that sleep complaints impair quality of life and global function.?
Abstract
By Liam Davenport
28 November 2008
Sleep Breath 2008; Advance online publication
Among bipolar disorder patients, sleep complaints impair both quality of life and global function, Brazilian scientists have discovered in findings that highlight the need for research into the effect of sleep on neurochemical pathways.
Previous studies have revealed that bipolar disorder patients experience sleep disturbances such as frequent nighttime awakenings, poor quality of sleep, reduction in total sleep time, and nightmares. In addition, while insomnia is common during depressive episodes, patients also report hypersomnia, with prolonged nighttime sleep, difficulty wakening, and excessive daytime sleepiness.
To determine the impact of sleep disorders on quality of life, disability, and global function in bipolar disorder patients, Larriany Giglio, from Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, and colleagues studied 190 bipolar I disorder patients.
The participants were administered the World Health Organization?s Quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Brief), the Sheehan Disability Scales, and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). The presence of sleep complaints was defined as a present score of at least 17 on questions 4, 5, and 6 of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).
In all, 111 patients had sleep complaints. There were no significant differences between patients with and without sleep complaints in terms of gender, age, year of illness, and Young Mania Rating Scale scores. However, patients with sleep complaints had significantly higher scores on the HAM-D than those without, at 12.68 versus 5.36, and a higher age of onset, at 26.94 years versus 23.32 years.
Patients with sleep complaints had worse quality of life scores than those without on all domains, with the differences in scores on the physical and psychological domains indicating worse impairment than on the social and environmental domains, at 14.72%, 14.15%, 8.35%, and 6.68%, respectively.
Furthermore, patients with sleep complaints had impairments on the Sheehan disability scales of work, social comportment, and environment relative to those without sleep complaints, and significantly reduced GAF scores, at 59.88 versus 66.54.
The team writes in the journal Sleep and Breathing: ?Considering that sleep dysfunction leads to alteration in neurotrophic and transcription factors; these factors are very important for maintaining the normal neuronal plasticity; sleep dysfunction has been described in bipolar disorder, our results suggest that sleep complaints impair quality of life and global function.?
Abstract
