Sleep quality can vary in relation to one’s general well-being and in the elderly, it is often affected by the presence of medical or psychological conditions. This study aims to determine the frequency of different components of sleep quality in the elderly, and their relationships with psychosocial and medical attributes. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 123 attendees aged 60 years and above at Pusat Perubatan Primer Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Sleep quality and psychological distress were assessed using the validated Malay versions of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and Hamilton anxiety depression scale (HADS) respectively. Information on medical comorbidities and medications were obtained from the participants, their doctors and medical notes. Almost half of the patients experienced poor sleep quality (47.2%) which was significantly associated with older mean age (69.5 ±4.55). There was no statistical significance between sleep quality and other sociodemographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity and living arrangement). Most patients described their sleep quality as subjectively generally “fairly good” (69.1%) despite PSQI scores indicating poor sleep quality. A majority of the patients (59.3%) were on follow-up for 3 or more medical illnesses, with heart disease as the only medical comorbidity significantly associated with poor sleep quality. Most of them also complained of only “mild difficulty” with their sleep. Among the 7 sleep components of PSQI, “sleep disturbance” was the most frequent experience. Most experienced mild sleep disturbance (87.8%) and usage of hypnotic agents was low (6.5%). Only 23.6% of patients had significant psychological distress (HADS scores ≥ 8), with positive correlation with sleep quality.
Sleep ; Polysomnography

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the effects of mattress type on both objective and subjective sleep quality in healthy good sleepers. METHODS: Fifteen healthy good sleepers with a mean age of 30.8 years participated in this study. A randomized crossover trial was carried out using two different mattress types: a standard mattress and a contour coil mattress. After a night of adaptation, all participants were randomized to either a standard mattress or a contour coil mattress. Then, nocturnal polysomnography was conducted for two consecutive nights. Subjective evaluations were obtained using a self-report questionnaire before and after the polysomnographic recording sessions. RESULTS: The polysomnographic showed no differences in total sleep time, sleep stage, or wake time after sleep onset between the two mattress conditions. Of the polysomnographic variables, only sleep onset latency was significantly reduced for the contour coil mattress. Additionally, participants reported better subjective sleep quality when sleeping on the contour coil mattress, according to the questionnaires. CONCLUSION: The type of mattress might affect not only subjective, but also objective sleep quality, including sleep onset latency.
Polysomnography ; Sleep Stages

In accordance with the development of EEG and polysomnography in the field of sleep research, the sleep onset period (SOP) between wakefulness and sleep has been considered an important part for understanding the physiology of sleep. SOP in the transition from wakefulness to sleep is a gradual process integrating various viewpoints such as behavior, EEG, physiology and subjective report. Particularly, based on understanding of EEG changes during sleep, SOP has been regarded as a pattern of topographical change in specific frequency and specific state in EEG. Studies on quantitative EEG (qEEG) and event-related potential (ERP) have suggested that SOP shows the changes of functional coordination at the specific cortical areas in qEEG and the changes of regular patterns in response to environmental stimulation in ERP. The development of sleep EEG and topographic mapping of EEG is expected to integrate various viewpoints of SOP and clarify the neurophysiologic mechanism of SOP further.
Electroencephalography ; Evoked Potentials ; Polysomnography ; Wakefulness

OBJECTIVE: The first-night effect is a well-known phenomenon resulting from an individual's maladaptation to the unfamiliar environment of a sleep laboratory. However, there have been no direct reports of the effect of previous sleep patterns on the first-night effect. We aimed to investigate the effect the previous week's sleep pattern on the first-night effect. METHODS: Twenty-four young, healthy, male participants completed the study procedure. During one week prior to study, the participants kept sleep diaries and wore actigraphs to identify sleep-wake pattern. Two consecutive nights of polysomnography were conducted after that. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were applied to compare sleep variables of the two nights. Variance (standard deviation) of sleep onset time during the previous week was used as an index of irregularity. A Kendall's ranked correlation analysis and a linear regression test were applied to detect correlation between sleep irregularity and the first-night effect measured by polysomnography. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the values of sleep efficiency (p=0.011) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) (p=0.006) between the two nights. Sleep efficiency was lower and WASO was higher on the first night as compared to the second night. Sleep irregularity in the previous week was negatively correlated with sleep efficiency (p<0.001) of the first night, but was not significantly correlated with any other sleep parameters. CONCLUSION: We replicated the existence of the first-night effect commonly observed in sleep studies. Sleep irregularity in the previous week may influence the first-night effect in polysomnographic studies.
Humans ; Linear Models ; Male ; Polysomnography

OBJECTIVE: Sleep problems are a prominent feature in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and about 25-43% of ADHD patients were reported to have sleep problems including higher level of nocturnal activity, longer sleep latency, lower sleep efficiency, more frequent night awakenings and shorter total sleep time. However, the association between sleep and ADHD is poorly understood and their relationships to sleep structure are not consistent across studies. The aims of our study were to ascertain the nocturnal sleep disturbances in patients with ADHD by objective measure, polysomnography. METHODS: The subjects were 20 patients with ADHD and 21 control children (6-12 years). We tested them by polysomnography to get sleep variables and compare sleep disturbances. In addition, we tested ADHD group by neurocognitive function test and assessed the correlation between sleep variables and neurocognitive functions in ADHD group. RESULTS: In sleep variables by polysomnography, the total time in bed (509.73+/-24.56 min vs. 490.51+/-20.71 min, p=0.01), sleep latency (21.30+/-19.33 min vs. 10.72+/-7.26 min, p=0.031) and limb movement arousal (6.56+/-2.19 /hr vs. 5.98+/-1.38 /hr, p=0.043) were significantly increased in patients with ADHD compared with controls. And the slow wave sleep (24.59+/-4.73% vs. 28.45+/-5.63%, p=0.023) were significantly decreased in patients with ADHD compared with controls. There were no significant differences in sleep period time and sleep efficiency test. CONCLUSION: The patients with ADHD had more sleep problems and results of this study suggested that they have significantly increased the total time in bed, sleep latency and Limb movement arousal. And in the patients with ADHD, some sleep variables indicated poor sleep quality. However, further studies should repeatedly suggest consistent results about sleep problems in children with ADHD.
Arousal ; Child* ; Extremities ; Humans ; Polysomnography*

PURPOSE: Pharmacologic provocation test of growth hormone(GH) is a non-physiologic method and has several limitations for diagnosing growth hormone(GH) deficiency. Spontaneous GH release studies could be important in understanding the pathophysiology of children with poor growth but normal responses to GH provocation tests. Also, the relationship between nocturnal GH secretions and sleep patterns in short stature children is poorly understood. The aim of this study is to determine whether there are differences in sleep patterns and nocturnal GH secretory profiles between idiopathic short stature children and a normal stature group. METHODS: Spontaneous nocturnal GH secretions and sleep patterns were evaluated in 12 prepubertal idiopathic short stature children with normal responses to provocation tests and 9 normal stature controls. Blood samples were taken every 30 minutes from 22:00-06:30 and sleep patterns were analyzed by polysomnography. RESULTS: The mean GH level during sleep was significantly lower in short stature children than in controls. The peak GH level after sleep, coincident with the first slow wave sleep, was lower in the short stature group. The slow wave sleep times of short stature children were decreased compared with those of normal subjects. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that overnight serial GH sampling is helpful to identify short stature children with subnormal GH secretions, and sleep structure differences may be associated with decreased overnight GH secretions in short stature children.
Child* ; Growth Hormone* ; Humans ; Polysomnography

No abstract available.
Caloric Tests* ; Humans ; Myoclonus* ; Polysomnography*

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Parasomnias ; Polysomnography

Since its development in the early 70s, actigraphy has been widely used in sleep research and clinical sleep medicine as an assessment tool of sleep and sleep-wake cycles. The validation and reliability of actigraphic measures have been reasonably examined in healthy normal individuals with good sleep patterns. Recent literature suggests that the use of actigraphy could be further extended to monitor insomnia and circadian sleep-wake disturbances, and detect sleep changes associated with drug treatments and non-pharmacologic interventions, although it is generally recommended to use complementary assessments such as sleep diaries and overnight polysomnography when possible. The development of actigraphy includes its improved hardware sensors for better detection of movements and advanced algorithms to score sleep and wake epochs. In this paper, we briefly review the quantitative analysis methods of actigraphy and its potential applications in sleep research.
Actigraphy* ; Polysomnography ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

We used quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) spectral analysis to compare activity in the bilateral frontal, central, and occipital areas in nine patients with schizophrenia and ten healthy control subjects during standard nocturnal polysomnography. Patients with schizophrenia had longer sleep latency than controls. In N2 sleep, the patients had significantly lower 0.5–1 Hz power and higher theta power in the left frontal region, and higher beta power in the left occipital region than did control subjects. In N3 sleep, the patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher alpha power in the left occipital region than did controls. These findings show distinctive EEG sleep patterns in patients with schizophrenia, which may reflect brain dysfunction or medication effects.
Brain ; Electroencephalography* ; Humans ; Occipital Lobe ; Polysomnography ; Schizophrenia*