An initial report of sleep disturbance in inactive inflammatory bowel disease

There is an increased prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms, peptic ulcer disease, and colon cancer in night-shiftworkers, whose sleep is commonly disrupted. Sleep complaints are an extrapyramidal symptom of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Sleep disruption may contribute to increased medical morbidity by weakening the ability of the immune system to protect against endotoxins-this pathway could be of potential importance to the pathogenesis and/or clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic immunoinflammatory gastrointestinal disorder associated with marked reductions in quality of life. This is the first study to comprehensively examine sleep concerns in patients with IBD.

Sixteen patients with biopsy-proven inactive IBD (8 with Crohn disease and 8 with ulcerative colitis), 9 patients with IBS, and 7 healthy controls completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, SF-12, and a single overnight polysomnogram. Polysomnography and arousals were scored according to standard criteria. Multivariate analyses were used to compare subjective and objective sleep parameters between groups and to identify associations between sleep complaints and quality of life.

Patients with IBD did not seem to significantly differ from patients with IBS, who have established sleep complaints. On polysomnography, total sleep time differentiated the 3 groups well, with the IBS and IBD groups appearing numerically similar. Whereas IBS and IBD groups were similar with respect to observed sleep parameters, IBS patients did report the most concerns, consistent with earlier research suggesting that hyperarousal and perceptual differences may contribute to symptom reporting.

Sleep parameters greatly influenced quality of life in both groups and highlight the need to address sleep concerns as part of IBD management.