Sleep disorders in a naturalistic cohort of Dutch psychiatric outpatients: prevalence rates and associations with psychopathology symptom severity and well‐being

Abstract

SummarySleep problems are very common in individuals with a mental disorder. Given the abundant evidence indicating the negative impact of disturbed sleep on mental health outcome, insight into the prevalence of all types of sleep disorders in specific mental disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions is of practical importance. Therefore, we estimated the prevalence of six types of sleep disorders with the Holland Sleep Disorders Questionnaire in an overall mental health sample (n = 1082) and separately for different mental and neurodevelopmental conditions. Furthermore, associations between specific sleep disorders, psychopathology and well‐being were studied. The impact of the total number of sleep disorders on these associations was examined. Overall, 46.2% of all participants scored above the cut‐off for having a sleep disorder. Specifically, 26.8% scored on insomnia, 12.1% on sleep breathing disorders, 9.7% on hypersomnia, 13.7% on circadian rhythm sleep–wake disorders, 11.2% on parasomnia, and 17.9% on sleep‐related movement disorders. Most sleep disorders were associated with greater severity of psychopathology and lower well‐being. These associations got stronger with an increasing number of sleep disorders. Our study revealed higher suspected prevalence of most sleep disorders in a mental disorder sample compared to the general population. Moreover, the presence of sleep disorder(s) was strongly associated with symptom severity and reduced well‐being. These findings extend the notion that early detection and treatment of sleep disorders in mental health populations is essential for psychiatric outcome.

Characterizing Genetic Pathways Unique to Autism Spectrum Disorder at Multiple Levels of Biological Analysis

“…We examined the genetic correlations with accelerometer data (i.e., physical movement) in 1-hour increments across a 24-hour period. This accelerometer data can be considered a useful indicator of atypical patterns of movement that may reflect disturbances in sleep and circadian rhythm, wherein these processes have been discussed as transdiagnostic risk factors for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders [ 16 , 34 , 35 ]. We observed positive associations between uASD and movement at hours 0–1 (i.e., 12:00AM-1:00AM; r g = .29, SE = .08), 21–22 (i.e., 9:00PM-10:00PM; r g = .28, SE = .07), 22–23 ( r g = .29, SE = .08), and 23–24 ( r g = .44, SE = .08), indicating that this genetic overlap was restricted to movement during periods of early morning and late night.…”