title: Ecological study of sleep disruption in PTSD: a pilot study.
abstract: Laboratory-based sleep studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the presence and nature of objective sleep anomalies in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This pilot study aimed at assessing sleep in adult crime victims with PTSD by using in-home polysomnography. Compared to healthy archival subjects, PTSD subjects showed longer sleep latency, reduced total sleep time, and increased duration of nocturnal awakening. Quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) measures of delta and beta activity also differed in PTSD and healthy subjects. These preliminary findings suggest that ambulatory methods can capture objective signs of sleep disruption, and corroborate subjective complaints of disrupted sleep in PTSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O'Hara Street, Room E-1124, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. germaina@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Germain
authors.forename: Martica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katherine Shear
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Nofzinger
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Buysse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017286:Polysomnography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*