P104 Exploring the heterogeneity of psychiatric symptom profiles in sleep clinic patients using a cross-cutting dimensional approach

Abstract

Introduction Individuals attending sleep services commonly present with comorbid psychiatric symptoms. This study reports our ongoing effort to characterise presenting psychiatric symptom profiles of individuals seeking treatment at a sleep clinic and classify heterogenous subgroups within a large sample. Method Data were collected at a university-based multidisciplinary sleep clinic via opt-out consent. Prior to treatment, individuals completed the Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure (CCSM), which provides a transdiagnostic symptom profile by measuring 13 domains of mental health (e.g., anger, anxiety, depression, psychosis, mania, memory). Additional questions on demographics and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire Reduced (rMEQ) were also administered. Results 1263 participants (52.9% male; age M±SD= 43.53±16.06) completed the CCSM and were analysed. Latent class analysis revealed 3 distinct profiles: Low-Symptom subgroup (n=655, 51.9%) reported mild affective and somatic symptoms; Psychopathology subgroup (n=342, 27.1%) reported moderate to severe psychopathology including psychosis, dissociation, and suicidality, in conjunction with severe affective, obsessive-compulsive, and somatic symptoms, and significant interference with memory and personality functioning; Affective-Disturbance subgroup (n=266, 21.1%) reported moderate affective and somatic symptoms, and some interference with memory and personality functioning. The three subgroups did not differ significantly on key demographics or the rMEQ. Discussion There was heterogeneity in psychiatric symptoms experienced by sleep clinic patients. Affective and somatic disturbances were common across subgroups whilst severe psychopathology appeared in a sizeable (one in four) proportion of patients. These findings solidified the need for careful assessment of a wide range of psychiatric symptoms to inform treatment planning in sleep services.