Psychiatric and polysomnographic evaluation of sleep disturbances.
BACKGROUND
We evaluated psychiatrically 100 subjects, who were referred to a sleep laboratory in a general hospital because of sleep complaints.


METHODS
All subjects were interviewed using a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R and underwent one night of standard polysomnography (PSG) examination.


RESULTS
Forty three percent of the population had at least one Axis I DSM-III-R disorder. High rate of depressive mood disorder (24%) was observed in our sample, in contrast to low prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse (4%). Our results of a Israeli population are different from the United States studies in respect to alcohol and drug abuse. Furthermore, 11% of patients with PSG diagnosis exhibited comorbid psychiatric disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
it appears that individuals with sleep complaints have high rate of psychiatric morbidity, especially mood disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The rapid eye movement (REM) latency, a biological marker for depression, was not investigated.


CONCLUSIONS
it seems that both PSG and psychiatric evaluation of sleep disturbance are of importance for appropriate therapeutic strategy for individuals with sleep complaints, especially in those with features of suspected depressive mood disorders.
Balan
S
S
Sleep Laboratory, Assaf Harofeh Hospital, Zrifin, Israel.
Spivak
B
B
Mester
R
R
Leibovitz
A
A
Habot
B
B
Weizman
A
A
D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017286:Polysomnography; D015995:Prevalence; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*