Detecting insomnia: comparison of four self-report measures of sleep in a young adult population

The sensitivity and specificity of four self-report measures of disordered sleep - the Sleep Impairment Index (SII), the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire (SDQ), the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Scale (DBAS) an d the Sleep-Wake Activity Inventory (SWAI) - were compared in subjects with insomnia and normal sleep. Nineteen young adult subjects met DSM-IV criter ia for primary insomnia and another 19 were normal control subjects. Discri minatory characteristics of each measure were assessed using receiver opera tor characteristic curve analyses. Discriminatory power was maximised for e ach measure to produce cut-scores applicable for identification of individu als with insomnia. The DBAS, SII and SDQ psychiatric DIMS subscale were fou nd to correlate, and discriminated well between the two groups. The SWAI no cturnal sleep subscale was not found to be an accurate discriminator. The r esults suggest differences in the measures in their ability to detect insom nia, and offer guidelines as to the optimal use of test scores to identify young adults suspected of insomnia.