Effects of an experimentally induced rhinovirus cold on sleep, performance, and daytime alertness

Study objectives: There is accumulating evidence that the common cold produ ces impairments in psychomotor vigilance. This has led some investigators t o hypothesize that such illnesses may also have disruptive effects on sleep . While several self-report studies suggest that viral illness may influenc e sleep parameters, no studies have assessed polysomnographically recorded sleep following viral infections. Design: Parallel control group comparison . Setting: Sleep laboratory in a large urban medical center. Participants: Twenty-one men and women with susceptibility to the rhinovirus type 23. Int erventions: Nasal inoculation with rhinovirus type 23. Measurements: Polyso mnographically recorded sleep for five nights (2300-0700 h) post-viral inoc ulation. Twice daily (1030 and 1430 h) performance assessment during each e xperimental day using auditory vigilance and divided attention tasks. A mul tiple sleep latency test (MSLT) was performed daily for the duration of the study. Results: In symptomatic individuals, total sleep time decreased an average of 23 min, consolidated sleep decreased an average of 36 min, and s leep efficiency was reduced by an average of 5% during the active viral per iod (experimental days/nights 3-5) compared with the incubation period. Psy chomotor performance was impaired. These changes were significantly greater than those observed in asymptomatic individuals. Conclusions: The common c old can have detrimental effects on sleep and psychomotor performance in sy mptomatic individuals during the initial active phase of the illness. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.