Impaired sleep in alcohol misusers and dependent alcoholics and the impactupon outcome

Background: There is very little work that has investigated the self-report ed sleep status of alcohol misusers. This study addressed that imbalance. Methods: The study consisted of two parts: 1) the outpatient study, a sampl e of DSM-IV alcohol-dependent subjects who were referred to an outpatient c linic and were given a series of questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh S leep Quality Index (PSQI); and 2) the inpatient study, a group of DSM-IV al cohol-dependent subjects whose sleep was assessed by the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) sleep subscore at the start of the study and again at the 12- week follow-up. Both the PSQI and NHP are self-report indices whereby highe r scores indicate a poor sleep quality. Results: In the outpatient study, the PSQI scores were significantly higher in the alcoholics (n = 31) compared with the controls (n = 49). There were no differences in the PSQI scores among mildly (n = 11), moderately (n = 1 0), and severely (n = 11) dependent drinkers. The PSQI total scores correla ted with the Beck Depression Index but not with severity of dependence or a lcohol problem scores. Sleep latency emerged as the most significant predic tor of relapse, and sleeping badly was associated with poor outcome at the 12-week follow-up in the inpatient study. Conclusion: Self-reported sleep disturbance can provide clinicians with inf ormation to plan better treatment for alcohol misusers.