Incidence and diagnosis of sleep paralysis.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
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The aim of the study was to assess sleep disturbances in subjects with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from an urban general population and to identify associated psychiatric disorders in these subjects. The study was performed with a representative sample of 1,832 respondents aged 15 to 90 years living in the Metropolitan Toronto area who were surveyed by telephone (participation rate, 72.8%). Interviewers used Sleep-EVAL, an expert system specifically designed to conduct epidemiologic studies of sleep and mental disorders in the general population. Overall, 11.6% of the sample reported having experienced a traumatic event, with no difference in the proportion of men and women. Approximately 2% (1.8%) of the entire sample were diagnosed by the system as having PTSD at the time of interview. The rate was higher for women (2.6%) than for men (0.9%), which translated into an odds ratio (OR) of 2.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 6.1). PTSD was strongly associated with other mental disorders: 75.7% of respondents with PTSD received at least one other diagnosis. Most concurrent disorders (80.7%) appeared after exposure to the traumatic event. Sleep disturbances also affected about 70% of the PTSD subjects. Violent or injurious behaviors during sleep, sleep paralysis, sleep talking, and hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations were more frequently reported in respondents with PTSD. Considering the relatively high prevalence of PTSD and its important comorbidity with other sleep and psychiatric disorders, an assessment of the history of traumatic events should be part of a clinician's routine inquiry in order to limit chronicity and maladjustment following a traumatic exposure. Moreover, complaints of rapid eye movement (REM)-related sleep symptoms could be an indication of an underlying problem stemming from PTSD.
Although idiopathic CNS hypersomnolence is the third most frequent hypersomnia diagnosis, the syndrome is still unfamiliar to physicians, especially in Japan. In the Sleep Disorders Clinic of Kurume University Hospital, seven patients were diagnosed as idiopathic CNS hypersomnolence. All the patients complained of persistent daytime sleepiness, difficulty in morning awakening and lengthening of nocturnal sleep. Their daytime sleepiness had not been reduced even when they have taken sufficient nocturnal sleep. Various autonomic symptoms were observed, but what has noticeably been absent were cataplexy, sleep paralysis, sleep attack, sleep apnea or any other identifiable neurological disorders. The onset of the syndrome in four of the seven patients occurred in their teens. No therapeutic effects had been found after undergoing medical treatments.
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To better define the clinical spectra of narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia, we retrospectively compared clinical and polygraphic findings and questionnaire results in groups of subjects with narcolepsy with or without cataplexy, idiopathic hypersomnia, insufficient sleep syndrome, mild sleep apnea, and excessive daytime sleepiness not otherwise specified. Sleep paralysis and sleep-related hallucinations were most frequent in narcolepsy-cataplexy, but their frequency did not differ between narcolepsy without cataplexy and idiopathic hypersomnia. Mean durations of nocturnal sleep, daytime naps, and morning grogginess were not increased in idiopathic hypersomnia compared with other groups. Among subjects without cataplexy, symptoms of sleep paralysis and sleep-related hallucinations were equally common in subjects with and without frequent sleep-onset REM periods. These findings suggest that the occurrence of these symptoms in subjects without classical narcolepsy-cataplexy is a function of factors other than a propensity for early onset of REM sleep and indicate a need to reevaluate diagnostic criteria for narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia.
Narcolepsy is characterised by excessive daytime sleepiness, usually associated with cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis and fragmented nocturnal sleep. Although uncommon, it results in significant disability. Most cases occur sporadically, but genetic factors probably form a susceptibility background on which unknown environmental triggers act. The hypocretin system is strongly implicated in the development of narcolepsy. Cerebrospinal fluid levels of hypocretin-1 are significantly reduced in narcoleptic subjects with cataplexy. Despite the advances in our understanding of narcolepsy, current therapy is primarily symptomatic. Stimulants (standard and novel) combat excessive daytime sleepiness. Antidepressants (tricyclics, dual-action or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) and sodium oxybate are anticataplexy agents. Hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis respond to antidepressants. Sodium oxybate consolidates sleep. Novel and experimental treatments include histamine antagonists, hypocretin agonists, slow-wave sleep enhancers, intravenous gamma-globulin, tramadol and corticosteroids.
Among a psychiatric population of Cambodian refugees (N = 100), 42% had current--i.e. at least once in the last year--sleep paralysis (SP). Of those experiencing SP, 91% (38/42) had visual hallucinations of an approaching being, and 100% (42/42) had panic attacks. Among patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 45), 67% (30/45) had SP, whereas among those without PTSD, only 22.4% (11/45) had SP (chi2 = 20.4, p < .001). Of the patients with PTSD, 60% (27/45) had monthly episodes of SP. The Cambodian panic response to SP seems to be greatly heightened by elaborate cultural ideas--with SP generating concerns about physical status, 'good luck' status, 'bad luck' status, sorcery assault, and ghost assault--and by trauma associations to the figure seen in SP. Case vignettes illustrate cultural beliefs about, and trauma resonances of, SP. A model to explain the high rate of SP in this population is presented. SP is a core aspect of the Cambodian refugees response to trauma; when assessing Cambodian refugees, and traumatized refugees in general, clinicians should assess for its presence.