Sleep disorder

About: Sleep disorder is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 19380 publications have been published within this topic receiving 884281 citations. The topic is also known as: somnipathy & non-organic sleep disorder.

The sleep/wake rhythm in children with autism

Abstract: The sleep patterns of two groups of children with autism, one with moderate to severe intellectual handicap, and one with mild handicap to normal IQ level, were compared with those of children without autism. Parents completed 14 day sleep diaries and questionnaires. Results suggested that at some stage during childhood, particularly under 8 years of age, the majority of children with autism will experience sleep problems. These problems are likely to be severe in many cases and will generally include one or more of: extreme sleep latencies; lengthy periods of night waking; shortened night sleep; and early morning waking. Such problems may have some specificity for autism as they appear to be rare in non-handicapped children and in children with mild degrees of intellectual handicap. It is likely that sleep problems in early childhood are related to the severe social difficulties present in autism and the consequent inability of these children to use social cues to synchronise their sleep/wake cycle. Continued sleep difficulties at older ages and with higher IQ may also be related to arousal and anxiety factors.

REM sleep behaviour disorder: An update on a series of 96 patients and a review of the world literature

Abstract: REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is an injurious clinical disorder of attempted dream-enactment ('oneirism') in humans which has a corresponding experimental animal model involving dorsolateral pontine tegmental lesions in cats. To date, our sleep disorders centre has collected data on 96 chronic RBD cases which can be compared with pooled data on 70 chronic RBD cases from other centres contained in 26 reports published in the world literature since 1985, when our initial cases were first reported. The data from our centre and from other centres demonstrate a male predominance in RBD (87.5% vs 63.5%); indicate a similar mean age of RBD onset (52.4 y vs 55.9 y); contain substantial numbers of diverse central nervous system disorders causally associated with RBD (47.9% vs 60.0%); and identify clonazepam treatment as being very effective in controlling both the (violent) dream and sleep behavioural disturbances of RBD. Our centre's data additionally reveal an 80% prevalence of elevated stage 3/4 (slow-wave) sleep% for age in RBD, and reveal a frequent presence of periodic and aperiodic limb movements during NREM sleep. Thus, RBD in humans is a complex syndrome in which there is generalized REM and NREM sleep motor dyscontrol, as was originally observed in the animal RBD model by Jouvet and Delorme in 1965.

Genome-wide association analyses of sleep disturbance traits identify new loci and highlight shared genetics with neuropsychiatric and metabolic traits

Abstract: Chronic sleep disturbances, associated with cardiometabolic diseases, psychiatric disorders and all-cause mortality, affect 25-30% of adults worldwide. Although environmental factors contribute substantially to self-reported habitual sleep duration and disruption, these traits are heritable and identification of the genes involved should improve understanding of sleep, mechanisms linking sleep to disease and development of new therapies. We report single- and multiple-trait genome-wide association analyses of self-reported sleep duration, insomnia symptoms and excessive daytime sleepiness in the UK Biobank (n = 112,586). We discover loci associated with insomnia symptoms (near MEIS1, TMEM132E, CYCL1 and TGFBI in females and WDR27 in males), excessive daytime sleepiness (near AR-OPHN1) and a composite sleep trait (near PATJ (INADL) and HCRTR2) and replicate a locus associated with sleep duration (at PAX8). We also observe genetic correlation between longer sleep duration and schizophrenia risk (rg = 0.29, P = 1.90 × 10-13) and between increased levels of excessive daytime sleepiness and increased measures for adiposity traits (body mass index (BMI): rg = 0.20, P = 3.12 × 10-9; waist circumference: rg = 0.20, P = 2.12 × 10-7).

Insomnia causes, consequences, and therapeutics: an overview.

Abstract: There is growing interest in insomnia both from the perspective of recent advances in clinical management as well as research aimed at elucidating its pathophysiology. This theoretical overview of insomnia describes the negative impact, etiological considerations, and pharmacological and behavioral treatments for the disorder, with an emphasis on areas receiving increased research attention. Insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder, affects 10-15% of the general population. In population-based studies severe insomnia has been shown to last for a median of 4 years. In addition, insomnia has a significant negative impact on an individual's work, physical, and social performance as well as overall quality of life. Furthermore, the economic cost of insomnia related to lost productivity, work-related accidents, absenteeism, and health-care costs are enormous. There is increasing evidence linking the precipitation of insomnia to stress, and converging evidence from cognitive, endocrine, neurological, and behavioral domains provide clear evidence for hyper-arousal in insomnia. However, there remains no consensus regarding the specific etiological mechanisms of this disorder. Although the pathophysiology of primary insomnia remains an enigma, numerous treatments both pharmacological and behavioral have been developed and found to be efficacious in controlled studies. Despite the wide availability of pharmacological treatments and increased knowledge of behavioral interventions, the vast majority of individuals with insomnia do not appear to be receiving adequate treatment. The inadequate treatment of insomnia leads to several important and under-recognized consequences including subsequent development of psychiatric disease and increased substance use.