Karl Doghramji, MD, Sleep Disorders Section Editor for Psychiatric Times, is Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and Medical Director of the Jefferson Sleep Disorders Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Philadelphia. Dr Doghramji is also Chair of the Albert M. Biele, MD Memorial Lectureship in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Jefferson Medical College.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children and adolescents is much more prevalent than most practitioners realize: it is found in 1% to 4% of children… Read More
It appears that the function of melatonin is to mediate dark signals and provide night information, a “hormone of darkness,” rather than be the hormone of sleep.
Psychiatric comorbid conditions, especially mood disorders and anxiety disorders, are common in patients with Sleep-Disordered Breathing. A thorough sleep evaluation is warranted in patients with psychiatric conditions that have Sleep-Disordered Breathing risk factors.
Knowledge of how different antidepressants are likely to affect parameters of sleep can provide an important basis for selecting an appropriate antidepressant drug among the roughly 2 dozen marketed options to meet the needs of depressed patients.
Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic condition that consists of a pervasive set of unexplained physical symptoms with widespread pain (involving at least 3 of 4 body quadrants and axials) of at least 3 months duration and point tenderness at 9 bilateral locations (Figure) as the cardinal features.1... More »
The National Comorbidity Survey estimates that approximately 50% of the population in the United States is exposed to traumatic events and that the lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is approximately 7.8%. More »
While tremendous therapeutic advancements have been made, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a myriad of comorbidities, including fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances. Data on the comorbidity of psychiatric disorders with arthritis are also striking: according to the NIMH Catchment... More »
Anyone who has spent a sleepless night needs no convincing about the subjective discomfort associated with lying in bed awake and unable to sleep. In addition to nighttime discomfort, insomnia is associated with a wide assortment of daytime impairments, some intuitive and some startling. A number of... More »
Aging is often associated with complaints of difficulties with sleep, as evidenced by reports that up to 50% of older US adults complain of chronic trouble with sleep.1 Research has found that a number of normal changes in sleep occur with aging, which may explain some of these... More »
PHILADELPHIA -- Half of all patients with nighttime symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease have sleep problems and such patients also score lower on quality of life measures, including mental and physical function, according to studies reported here. More »
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Adenotonsillectomy for kids who snore may improve not only their quality of sleep but their behavior, as well, researchers here found. More »
HELSINKI, Finland -- Sleep excesses one way or the other can carry a roughly 20% greater mortality risk over two decades, investigators here found. More »
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure reverses early signs of atherosclerosis, according to researchers here. More »
TOKYO -- Second-hand cigarette smoke can exacerbate the sleep disturbances of pregnant women, investigators here found in two surveys of nearly 36,000 women. More »
The effect of opioids on driving performance has been much debated. Driving is a complex task requiring integration of psychomotor, cognitive, motor and decision-making skills, visual-spatial abilities, divided attention, and behavioral and emotional control. The objective of this systematic review was to assess the quality of studies and to revisit the concept that patients on stable opioids are safe to drive as it applies to everyday practice.|We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCinfo, CENTRAL, TRANSPORT, CINAHL, reference lists of retrieved articles and narrative reviews, for studies on chronic cancer and noncancer pain patients on opioids, tested by driving, driving simulator, or cognitive/psychomotor tests. Methodological quality was assessed with Methodological Index for Nonrandomized Studies, cognitive/psychomotor tests were appraised regarding their sensitivity and validation, and whether confounding variables potentially affecting the study conclusions were recorded. The results
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by repeated episodes of dream enactment behavior and REM sleep without atonia (RSWA) during polysomnography recording. RSWA is characterized by increased phasic or tonic muscle activity seen on polysomnographic electromyogram channels. RSWA is a requisite diagnostic feature of RBD, but may also be seen in patients without clinical symptoms or signs of dream enactment as an incidental finding in neurologically normal individuals, especially in patients receiving antidepressant therapy. RBD may be idiopathic or symptomatic. Patients with idiopathic RBD often later develop other neurological features including parkinsonism, orthostatic hypotension, anosmia, or cognitive impairment. RSWA without clinical symptoms as well as clinically overt RBD also often occurs concomitantly with the -synucleinopathy family of neurodegenerative disorders, which includes idiopathic Parkinson disease, Lewy body dementia,
In many patients with depression, symptoms of insomnia herald the onset of the disorder and may persist into remission or recovery, even after adequate treatment. Several studies have raised the question whether insomniac symptoms may constitute an independent clinical predictor of depression. This meta-analysis is aimed at evaluating quantitatively if insomnia constitutes a predictor of depression.|PubMed, Medline, PsycInfo, and PsycArticles databases were searched from 1980 until 2010 to identify longitudinal epidemiological studies simultaneously investigating insomniac complaints and depressed psychopathology. Effects were summarized using the logarithms of the odds ratios for insomnia at baseline to predict depression at follow-up. Studies were pooled with both fixed- and random-effects meta-analytic models in order to evaluate the concordance. Heterogeneity test and sensitivity analysis were computed.|Twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria. Considering all studies together,
Research on whether any electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep abnormalities observed among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) represent genetic biomarkers remains inconclusive. We aimed to identify EEG-based biomarkers of MDD through a review of studies from three populations: individuals with MDD, individuals with MDD under remission, and never depressed high-risk probands (HRPs) of individuals with MDD.|We searched databases such as MEDLINE and PsycINFO for EEG studies published since 1970. Of the 886 records, our selection criteria identified 56 studies that employed standardized EEG scoring procedures and addressed confounds such as participant reactivity and drug effects. We then used fixed-effects models to calculate average weighted mean differences in EEG parameters between clinical groups across these studies.|Individuals with MDD differed significantly from control subjects on several EEG variables. However, remitted individuals showed normalization of all
Disturbed sleep is a key symptom in major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). First-line antidepressants, including the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), may have different effects on sleep.|Data from 22 randomized, controlled trials comparing escitalopram with SSRIs, SNRIs, or placebo in the treatment of adult MDD or GAD were included. Both last observation carried forward (LOCF) and repeated measurements (MMRM) were used to analyze the sleep item of the Montgomery sberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) or Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) after 8 weeks of treatment. Sleep-related treatment-emergent adverse events were also compared across groups.|For patients with MDD (n = 5133), the treatment difference on MADRS item 4 ("reduced sleep") was significantly in favor of escitalopram versus placebo (LOCF [P = 0.0017] and MMRM [P = 0.0002]), versus SSRIs (LOCF [P = 0.0020] and MMRM
Insomnia is one of the most prevalent health concerns in the population and in clinical practice. Clinicians may be reluctant to address insomnia because of its many potential causes, unfamiliarity with behavioral treatments, and concerns about pharmacologic treatments.|To review the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of insomnia in adults.|Systematic review to identify and summarize previously published quantitative reviews (meta-analyses) of behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for insomnia.|Insomnia is a common clinical condition characterized by difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, accompanied by symptoms such as irritability or fatigue during wakefulness. The prevalence of insomnia disorder is approximately 10% to 20%, with approximately 50% having a chronic course. Insomnia is a risk factor for impaired function, development of other medical and mental disorders, and increased health care costs. The etiology and pathophysiology of insomnia involve genetic,
23243074 2012 12 25 2013 02 25 1526-632X 80 1 Jan 1 Neurology 118-20 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b1b2a Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. Flanagan Eoin P EP Gavrilova Ralitza H RH Boeve Bradley F BF Kumar Neeraj N Jelsing Elena J
The effectiveness of D-cycloserine (DCS), an N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor partial agonist, and valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, in facilitating the extinction of fear-conditioned memory has been explored in humans and animals. Here, we confirmed whether DCS (100 mg) and VPA (400 mg) act in off-line learning processes during sleep or waking, for further clinical application to anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We performed a randomized, blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 90 healthy adults. Visual cues and electric shocks were used as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US), respectively. The extinction effect was observed not in simple recall after the extinction of coupled CS-US, but was observed in the post-re-exposure phase after unexpected re-exposure to reinstatement CS-US coupling. Newly acquired conditioned fear was also eliminated or habituated by DCS and VPA administration, in line with
Modafinil, a putative cognitive enhancing drug, has previously been shown to improve performance of healthy volunteers as well as patients with attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia, mainly in tests of executive functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of modafinil on non-verbal cognitive functions in healthy volunteers, with a particular focus on variations of cognitive load, measures of motivational factors and the effects on creative problem-solving.|A double-blind placebo-controlled parallel design study evaluated the effect of 200 mg of modafinil (N = 32) or placebo (N = 32) in non-sleep deprived healthy volunteers. Non-verbal tests of divergent and convergent thinking were used to measure creativity. A new measure of task motivation was used, together with more levels of difficulty on neuropsychological tests from the CANTAB battery.|Improvements under modafinil were seen on spatial working memory, planning and decision making at the most difficult
Patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (IRBD) are at risk for developing Parkinson disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We aimed to identify functional brain imaging patterns predicting the emergence of PD and DLB in patients with IRBD, using SPECT with (99m)Tc-ethylene cysteinate dimer (ECD).|Twenty patients with IRBD were scanned at baseline during wakefulness using (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT. After a follow-up of 3 years on average, patients were divided into 2 groups according to whether or not they developed defined neurodegenerative disease (PD, DLB). SPECT data analysis comparing regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) between groups assessed whether specific brain perfusion patterns were associated with subsequent clinical evolution. Regression analysis between rCBF and clinical markers of neurodegeneration (motor, color vision, olfaction) looked for neural structures involved in this process.|Of the 20 patients with IRBD recruited for this study, 10 converted to
No. 34 May 2012 Childrens Sleep Problems Many children have sleep problems. ... Most often, children with these sleep disorders have single or occasional episodes of the disorder.
ADHD Medications: Stimulant and non-stimulant medications may be helpful as part of the treatment for attention deficit hyperactive disorder ( ADHD). ... Antidepressant Medications: Antidepressant medications may be helpful in the treatment of depression,
Five Steps to Improving Patient Access Judy Capko, May 21, 2013 Patient access is getting increased attention through reform initiatives. Here are five steps you can take to make sure patients get appropriate access to care in your office.
Growing HIPAA Threat – Ignore Windows XP at Your Own Peril Marion K. Jenkins, May 21, 2013 Chances are good that you have some major ticking software time bombs lurking in your medical practice's computer environment, namely Windows XP and Server 2003.
Three Areas to Reduce Costs at Your Medical Practice Greg Mertz, May 19, 2013 By taking a hard look at reducing costs for staffing, overhead, and technology at your medical practice, you may see increased physician compensation.
Dos and Don’ts for Starting a Physician Blog Michael Woo-Ming, MD, May 18, 2013 Starting a physician blog can provide your medical practice with marketing benefits, but it's important to do it right.
American Board of Sleep Medicine
Established to encourage the study, improve the practice, elevate the standards of sleep medicine, and issue certificates of special knowledge in sleep medicine to physicians and PhDs in related fields.
Sleep Research Society (SRS)
The SRS is a professional membership organization for scientists involved in the study of sleep. It fosters the investigation of all aspects of sleep and its disorders, promotes training and education in the methodologies of sleep research, and provides forums for the exchange of scientific findings pertaining to sleep.
It appears that the function of melatonin is to mediate dark signals and provide night information, a “hormone of darkness,” rather than be the hormone of sleep.
Psychiatric comorbid conditions, especially mood disorders and anxiety disorders, are common in patients with Sleep-Disordered Breathing. A thorough sleep evaluation is warranted in patients with psychiatric conditions that have Sleep-Disordered Breathing risk factors.
Knowledge of how different antidepressants are likely to affect parameters of sleep can provide an important basis for selecting an appropriate antidepressant drug among the roughly 2 dozen marketed options to meet the needs of depressed patients.
