B. Krakow et al., Sleep breathing and sleep movement disorders masquerading as insomnia in sexual-assault survivors, COMP PSYCHI, 41(1), 2000, pp. 49-56
A descriptive, hypothesis-generating study was performed with 156 female se
xual-assault survivors who suffered from insomnia, nightmares, and posttrau
matic stress disorder (PTSD), They completed 2 self-report sleep questionna
ires to assess the potential presence of intrinsic sleep disorders. Seventy
-seven percent of the sample (120 of 156) endorsed additional sleep complai
nts, besides their insomnia symptoms, that indicate the potential presence
of sleep-disordered breathing ([SDB] 81 of 156, 52%) and sleep-related move
ment disorders ([SMD] 94 of 156, 60%). The potential for SDB was strongly c
orrelated with the body mass index (BMI), an increase in arousal symptoms,
and greater total PTSD severity. in some sexual-assault survivors, the rela
tionship between sleeplessness and posttraumatic stress may be caused or ex
acerbated by intrinsic sleep disorders, and not be solely a function of psy
chophysiological insomnia-the traditional diagnostic term usually offered t
o explain the sleep problems associated with PTSD. Prevalence studies that
use objective diagnostic evaluations such as polysomnography (PSG) are need
ed to test these hypotheses. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.