Insomnia with objective short sleep duration is associated with deficits in neuropsychological performance: a general population study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the joint effect of insomnia and objective short sleep duration on neuropsychological performance.


METHODS
Representative cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Sleep laboratory.


METHODS
1,741 men and women randomly selected from central Pennsylvania.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
Insomnia (n = 116) was defined by a complaint of insomnia with a duration > or = 1 year and the absence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB), while normal sleep (n = 562) was defined as the absence of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, and SDB. Both groups were split according to polysomnographic sleep duration into 2 categories: > or = 6 h of sleep ("normal sleep duration") and < 6 h of sleep ("short sleep duration"). We compared the groups' performance on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery that measured processing speed, attention, visual memory, and verbal fluency, while controlling for age, race, gender, education, body mass index, and physical and mental health.


RESULTS
No significant differences were detected between insomniacs and controls. However, the insomnia with short sleep duration group compared to the control with normal or short sleep duration groups showed poorer neuropsychological performance in variables such as processing speed, set-switching attention, and number of visual memory errors and omissions. In contrast, the insomnia with normal sleep duration group showed no significant deficits.


CONCLUSIONS
Insomnia with objective short sleep duration is associated with deficits in set-switching attentional abilities, a key component of the "executive control of attention." These findings suggest that objective sleep duration may predict the severity of chronic insomnia, including its effect on neurocognitive function.
Fernandez-Mendoza
Julio
J
Sleep Research and Treatment Center, Department of Psychiatry, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
Calhoun
Susan
S
Bixler
Edward O
EO
Pejovic
Slobodanka
S
Karataraki
Maria
M
Liao
Duanping
D
Vela-Bueno
Antonio
A
Ramos-Platon
Maria J
MJ
Sauder
Katherine A
KA
Vgontzas
Alexandros N
AN
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior
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