Sleep in Borderline Personality Disorder Individuals / 수면정신생리

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by identity and interpersonal problem, affective dysregulation and pervasive severe impulsivity. Although sleep disturbances are not primary symptoms of BPD, they are important aspects of this disorder. However, clinicians and researchers did not give much attention to the sleep symptoms of BPD yet. Measured by nocturnal polysomnography, increased sleep latency as well as reduced total sleep time and sleep efficiency, and 'depression-like' REM abnormalities (i.e., reduced REM latency and increased REM density) are found in BPD patients. Co-morbid sleep disorders such as chronic insomnia, nightmare disorder or circadian rhythm sleep disorder associated with BPD have been reported. Clinicians should focus on the sleep complaints of BPD patients, and carefully manage such symptoms with sleep hygiene education, cognitive psychotherapy or light therapy.

A Case of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Presenting as Paradoxical Insomnia

A 63-year-old female with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) presented with clinical features indistinguishable from paradoxical insomnia (PI). Her main complaint was chronic insomnia. Her subjective sleep latency was 2-3 h, subjective sleep time was less than 3 h, despite spending 8 h in bed, and she reported near constant awareness of her surroundings while lying in bed. Her body mass index (BMI) was 22.67 kg/m2, and her neck circumference was 34.5 cm. Nocturnal polysomnography (NPSG) findings indicated severe OSAS. Her total sleep time (TST) was 359 min, sleep latency 13 min, and her apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was 74.6/h. The aim of this report is to evaluate the association between PI and OSAS cases confirmed by NPSG.

Comparison of REM Sleep-Dependent Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome with Sleep Stage Non-Dependent One in Women Patients / 수면정신생리

OBJECTIVES: A few studies have compared REM sleep-dependent obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (REM-OSA) with sleep stage non-dependent apnea syndrome (SND-OSA). Despite that REM-OSA might be more common in women than men, no studies have examined the probable characteristics of women patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). This study aimed at finding out the characteristics of REM-OSA in women by comparing it with SND-OSA. METHODS: Fifty-three subjects diagnosed as OSAS (AHI>5; AHI: apnea-hypopnea index) with nocturnal polysomnography at the Center for Sleep and Chronobiology of the Seoul National University Hospital between October 2004 and February 2006 were studied. Of them, 44 subjects with OSAS severity of mild (52 and AHI-NR<15 (AHI-R: AHI during REM sleep, AHI-NR: AHI during non-REM sleep). We compared REM-OSA group with SND-OSA as well as the criteria-determined REM-OSA cases with the visually-determined ones. RESULTS: Among 44 subjects, 28 persons (63.6%) turned out to have REM-OSA by our criteria and 24 persons (54.5%) by visual determination. Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found between REM-OSA and SND-OSA groups in AHI, hypopnea index, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep efficiency index, percents of stage 1, 2 and REM sleep, and REM latency. Percent of stage REM sleep (%REM) turned out to have influence on AHI ratio (AHI-R/AHI-NR) (B=0.537, p=0.002). REM-OSA was likely to be diagnosed in milder severity of OSAS (chi-square=13.117, p<0.001) and those with higher %REM (chi-square=11.325, p=0.001). There was no significant difference between the criteria-determined and the visually-determined cases of REM-OSA. CONCLUSION: We suggest that REM-OSA and SND-OSA patients be differentiated in terms of pathophysiology and treatment strategies. Visual determination of REM-OSA might be useful as the screening procedure of REM-OSA. Further studies on women with OSAS and REM-OSA need to be done.

Characteristics of Sleep Disturbances Correlated with Clinical Parameters in Hemodialysis Patients with Chronic Renal Failure / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Sleep disturbances are very common in hemodialysis (HD) patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). This study aimed to examine the characteristics of sleep disturbances, and to illustrate the relationship of sleep parameters with clinical parameters reflecting metabolic dysfunction in HD patients with CRF. METHODS: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Sleep Disorders Questionnaire (SDQ) were administered in 26 HD patients with CRF. For fifteen patients with the risk of sleep disorder, nocturnal polysomnographic study (NPSG) and blood sampling were done. RESULTS: Among 15 patients, 14 patients (93%) were diagnosed as sleep disorders, sleep breathing disorder or periodic limb movements in sleep. Uric acid (UA) was positively correlated with sleep efficiency (r=0.571), and negatively correlated with waking after sleep onset, the amount of stage 1 sleep, and respiratory disturbance index (r=-0.515, -0.564, -0.646). Interleukin-6 was positively correlated with obstructive apnea index (r=0.661). CONCLUSION: In our study, the difficulty in maintaining sleep was found in HD patients with CRF. It also showed that increased UA was associated with improved sleep maintenance and decreased breathing disturbance during sleep. This might be related with antioxidant effect of UA in CRF. Further studies on total CRF patients including those without the risk of sleep disorder are necessary.