Review: psychiatric and medical consequences of disordered sleep

The aim of this article is to draw attention to the clinical importance of disordered sleep in psychiatry and to demonstrate the growing awareness of medical illness as a complication of disordered sleep. As background to these main objectives, some general points are made to illustrate present-day approaches to the common and often serious problem of sleep disturbance.

The review is based on a literature search from which key publications were selected to illustrate, in turn, main connections between disordered sleep and psychiatric and medical conditions.

Many such connections are described. Throughout psychiatry, regarding patients whatever their age, these connections have implications for clinical assessment and management. Emphasis is placed on the risk of misdiagnosis of sleep disorders as psychiatric or medical conditions. Examples of this are provided. The growing evidence that disordered sleep can predispose to medical illness is discussed.

As the subject of sleep and its disorders is particular relevant in psychiatry, a working knowledge of modern sleep medicine is important in all branches of psychiatric and other medical practice as well as in clinical research.