Laboratory sleep correlates of nightmare complaint in PTSD inpatients

Background: Nightmares are rare in the sleep laboratory, even in patients w ith posttraumatic stress disorder for whom nightmare complaints are diagnos tic. Nevertheless, it is possible that laboratory conditions do not preclud e the observation of telltales-nightmare-related modifications of tonic sle ep-given sufficiently large samples. Methods: Sixty-three unmedicated, nonapneic Vietnam combat veterans undergo ing inpatient treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder underwent polysom nographic testing and assessment of nightmare complaint, Results: Trauma-related nightmare complaint, but not non-trauma-related com plaint, was associated with increased wake-after-sleey-onset in the sleep l aboratory. No relationships between nightmare complaint and rapid eye movem ent sleep architecture were observed Conclusions: Increased wake-after-sleep-onset was specifically associated w ith trauma-related nightmare complaint, confirming data front other quarter s suggesting they are both phenomenologically and functionally distinct fro m normal dreaming. (C) 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatry.