The role of polysomnography in the differential diagnosis of chronic insomnia
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Published on: January 25, 2016
E A Jacobs1, C F Reynolds, D J Kupfer
1Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213.
Abstract:
The authors examined the accuracy of the differential diagnosis of chronic insomnia with and without sleep laboratory studies in a consecutive series of 123 patients. All patients were evaluated by means of a sleep/wake log, a sleep habits questionnaire, structured psychiatric and clinical interviews, and a minimum of two consecutive nights of polysomnography. Notwithstanding a high rate of Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC)-diagnosed psychopathology (63%) in this sample, the major finding was that in 49% of the patients laboratory results added to, refuted, and/or failed to support the clinical impression. This resulted in substantial modification of the initial diagnostic formulation and therefore in increased specificity of diagnosis.
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