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Sleep onset REM periods in obsessive compulsive disorder
Michael Kluge1, Petra Schüssler, Martin Dresler
1Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany. kluge@mpipsykl.mpg.de
Psychiatry Research
|February 24, 2007
Summary
This study found reduced stage 4 sleep in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Some OCD patients exhibited sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs), correlating with more severe OCD symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Sleep Medicine
Background:
- Sleep disturbances are inconsistently reported in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) research.
- Previous studies often included patients with comorbid major depression, complicating findings.
- This study focuses on OCD patients without comorbid depression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sleep patterns in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) without comorbid major depression.
- To compare polysomnography data between OCD patients and healthy controls.
- To explore potential correlations between specific sleep abnormalities and OCD symptom severity.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 10 inpatients diagnosed with DSM-IV OCD (Y-BOCS >15, HAMD-21 <17) and 10 healthy matched controls.
- Conducted overnight polysomnography after an adaptation night for both groups.
- Analyzed sleep variables, including sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs).
Main Results:
- No significant differences in most sleep variables between OCD patients and controls.
- A reduction in stage 4 sleep was observed in OCD patients.
- Three OCD patients (30%) displayed SOREMPs (REM latency <10 min).
- OCD patients with SOREMPs had significantly higher Y-BOCS scores than those without.
Conclusions:
- Stage 4 sleep reduction may be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Sleep onset REM periods (SOREMPs) are reported for the first time in OCD patients without comorbid depression.
- The presence of SOREMPs correlates with increased OCD symptom severity.
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