Research gets to the heart of PTSD and sleeping

Acute Coronary Syndrome-Related PTSD Impacts Sleep
Monthly Prescribing Reference
June 03, 2013

(HealthDay News) – Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is associated with worse overall sleep, according to a study published online May 30 in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Jonathan A. Shaffer, PhD, from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues assessed ACS-induced PTSD symptoms at one month post-ACS in 188 adults using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess sleep.

The researchers found that ACS-induced PTSD symptoms were associated with significantly worse overall sleep. Greater impairment was seen in six of seven components of sleep: subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, use of sleep medications, and daytime dysfunction. Only in an unadjusted model was sleep latency significantly associated with ACS-induced PTSD symptoms.

"ACS-induced PTSD symptoms may be associated with poor sleep, which may explain why PTSD confers increased cardiovascular risk after ACS," the authors write.
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