Psychiatric and polysomnographic evaluation of sleep disturbances

Background: We evaluated phychiatrically 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 drag 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. Conclusion: It appears that individuals with sleep complaints have high rate of psychiatric mobidity, especially mood disorders. Limitation: The rapid eye movement (REM) latency, a biological marker for depression, was not investigated. Clinical Relevance: 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.