Quality of sleep and P300 amplitude in primary insomnia: a preliminary study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the cortical arousal level in subjects with primary insomnia varies according to their quality of nighttime sleep.


METHODS
The P300 ERP was recorded each day, before and after sleep actigraphically monitored for 1 week. For each participant, the nights of worst- and best-quality sleep were identified.


METHODS
Seven subjects with primary insomnia and 7 control subjects.


RESULTS
The P300 amplitudes were compared by considering group (insomnia vs control), night (worst vs best), and moment of recording (before vs after sleep) as factors. The subjects with insomnia showed higher P300 amplitudes, as compared with amplitudes of control subjects, only for the worst night of sleep.


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate a relationship between variations in sleep quality and cortical arousal level in subjects with primary insomnia.
Devoto
Alessandra
A
Department of Psychology, University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy. alessandra.devoto@uniroma1.it
Manganelli
Sara
S
Lucidi
Fabio
F
Lombardo
Caterina
C
Russo
Paolo Maria
PM
Violani
Cristiano
C
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*