The impact of insomnia on anxiety and depression: a longitudinal study of non-clinical young Chinese adult males

Abstract

Insomnia, anxiety, and depression commonly co-occured and were closely related. Most of the prior studies were cross-sectional, with a poor ability to infer causality. Longitudinal study was needed to classify the relationships. The present study conducted a longitudinal study of non-clinical young Chinese males to investigate whether insomnia predicted the likelihood of future anxiety and depression, and vice versa. Convenient sampling method was applied, and 288 participants was recruited from Shanghai in October 2017 with Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). 120 of them were re-tested in June 2018. The drop-out rate was 58.33%. Correlation analyses and cross-lagged analysis showed that AIS global score was significantly positively related with scores of depression and anxiety at baseline and follow-up. Insomnia was a predictive factor of anxiety, but it can’t predict depression. In sum, insomnia may be an important cause of anxiety, while no predictive relationship was found between insomnia and depression.

The brain in chronic insomnia and anxiety disorder: a combined structural and functional fMRI study

“…The main symptoms of GAD include nervousness, heightened alertness, and sleep disturbances. Epidemiological studies suggest that most individuals will experience increased sleep-related anxiety following chronic insomnia (2), often comorbid with GAD (3). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, also recognizes insomnia as a significant clinical indicator and a diagnostic criterion for GAD, with most patients suffering from both CID and GAD.…”