The Weekly Mind Reader: Poor Sleep Quality Plagues Schizophrenia Patients

The Primary Care Companion just published new research that lifts the veil over schizophrenia patients and their quality of sleep.

Schizophrenia Patients Suffer From Poor Sleep Quality

This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to assess the quality of sleep in patients with schizophrenia. The study, conducted in a tertiary care center in Northern India, included 100 clinically stable outpatients meeting the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.

The results revealed a high prevalence of poor sleep quality among the patients, with 78% experiencing sleep disturbances. Researchers used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality. The mean PSQI score was 11.20. Notably, the daytime dysfunction component of the PSQI had the highest mean score, indicating significant impairment in daytime functioning among patients with schizophrenia.

Sociodemographic factors such as sex, age, marital status, and education level showed no significant association with poor sleep quality. However, benzodiazepine use was associated with better sleep quality, and patients using benzodiazepines had lower PSQI and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores.

There was no significant correlation between psychopathology scores, measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and the subdomains of the PSQI. Additionally, antipsychotic dose equivalence did not show a significant correlation with sleep quality.

The study concluded that poor sleep quality had a deleterious impact on the daytime functioning of patients with schizophrenia, highlighting the need for comprehensive management of sleep problems in this population. The authors recommended further qualitative studies to explore the subjective quality of sleep and its determinants in schizophrenia.

Despite the strengths of the study, such as being the only one conducted to assess sleep quality using the PSQI in Northern India, limitations included the recruitment of clinically stable patients from a single outpatient psychiatry department, limiting the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the study design could not establish a causal relationship between sleep quality and clinical variables.

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