Actigraphic sleep monitoring in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A meta-analysis

Sleep disruption is a common complaint among patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Modern technology of activity monitoring (actigraphy) enables extended, objective, unobtrusive recording and measuring of daytime and nighttime activity. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the actigraphic sleep patterns in PTSD compared with healthy controls.

We searched through seven electronic databases from inception to July 2022. Only case-control studies comparing rest-activity variables measured by actigraphy devices between clinically diagnosed PTSD patients and healthy individuals were included.

We identified 12 eligible studies comparing 323 PTSD patients and 416 healthy controls. Using a random-effects model, we showed that PTSD patients have significantly lower sleep efficiency (SMD: -0.26, 95 % CI = -0.51 to -0.004, p < .05, I² = 29.31 %), more fragmented sleep (SMD: 0.52, 95 % CI = 0.17 to 0.87, p < .01, I² = 0 %), and longer time in bed (SMD: 0.41, 95 % CI = 0.07 to 0.74, p < .05, I² = 0 %) compared to healthy controls.

This study included a limited number of studies. Publication bias was not examined on all variables, which could lead to an overestimation of effect size. Four studies involved veterans, which likely differ from civilians regarding traumatic exposure.

This meta-analytic review highlighted a pattern of sleep disturbances in PTSD patients compared with non-PTSD individuals. High-quality, large-scale studies are necessary to draw a definitive conclusion regarding the distinctive sleep profile in PTSD. Future research can pay attention to sleep-specific mechanisms underlying PTSD and explore the momentary interactions between sleep-wake variables.