CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF SLEEP DISORDERS - AN ANALYSIS OF 817 PATIENTS ATTENDING A SLEEPOUT-PATIENT CLINIC

Between 1992, the year in which the Sleep Out-Patient Clinic at the De partment of Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Allgemeines Krankenhaus (General Hospital) Vienna, was established, and 1996, 817 patients (58 % females, average age 52 years; 42% males, average age 48 years) were treated for sleep disorder. According to the International Statistica l Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) of t he World Health Organization (WHO), 70% of the patients presented with a non-organic sleep disorder and 30% with an organic sleep disorder a s main diagnosis. Nonorganic insomnia was by far the most frequently d iagnosed sleep disorder (48%), while within the organic sleep disorder s sleep apnea was dominant (12%). In regard to the additional non-orga nic (mental disorder) diagnoses rounding off the clinical picture, neu rotic, stress related, and somatoform disorders were the most common ( 41%), followed by affective disorders (31%) and mental and behavioural disorders due to intake of psychoactive substances, e.g. alcohol, dru gs (15%). Additional organic diagnoses related to sleep disorders invo lved primarily endocrine disorders such as adipositas (23%), followed by cardiovascular disorders (19%), and primary snoring (17%). The slee p out-patient clinic has at its disposal a supportive diagnostic armam entarium such as all-night sleep polysomnography, 24-hour polysomnogra phy, the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, EEG and EEG-mapping in the affil iated sleep laboratory, the evaluation of event-related potentials (P3 00) and actometry in the psychophysiological laboratory, as well as ps ychological and psychophysiological tests in the clinical psychodiagno stic laboratory, in order to determine the right treatment or preventi ve measures for the individual patients.