Perceived Immune Status and Sleep: A Survey among Dutch Students.

Reduced immune functioning may have a negative impact on sleep and health, and vice versa. A survey among Dutch young adults (18-35 years old) was administered to collect information on perception of reduced immunity and its relationship to sleep disorders, sleep duration, and quality. Sleep disorders were assessed with the SLEEP-50 questionnaire subscales of sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorder, and daily functioning. Dutch young adults (N = 574) completed the survey. Among them, subjects (N = 209; 36.4%) reported perceived reduced immunity. Relative to those with a normal immune status, subjects reporting reduced immunity had significantly higher scores (p = 0.0001) on sleep apnea (2.6 versus 3.6), insomnia (5.1 versus 6.8), and circadian rhythm disorder (2.1 versus 2.7). Subjects reporting reduced immunity also had significantly poorer daily functioning scores (5.4 versus 7.6, p = 0.0001). No differences were observed in total sleep time, but those reporting reduced immunity had significantly poorer ratings of sleep quality (6.8 versus 7.2, p = 0.0001). Our findings suggest that perceived reduced immunity is associated with sleep disturbances, impaired daily functioning, and a poorer sleep quality. Experimental studies including the assessment of immune biomarkers and objective measures of sleep (polysomnography) should confirm the current observations.

The impact of revised DSM-5 criteria on the relative distribution and inter-rater reliability of eating disorder diagnoses in a residential treatment setting.

This study evaluated the relative distribution and inter-rater reliability of revised DSM-5 criteria for eating disorders in a residential treatment program. Consecutive adolescent and young adult females (N=150) admitted to a residential eating disorder treatment facility were assigned both DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnoses by a clinician (n=14) via routine clinical interview and a research assessor (n=4) via structured interview. We compared the frequency of diagnostic assignments under each taxonomy and by type of assessor. We evaluated concordance between clinician and researcher assignment through inter-rater reliability kappa and percent agreement. Significantly fewer patients received either clinician or researcher diagnoses of a residual eating disorder under DSM-5 (clinician-12.0%; researcher-31.3%) versus DSM-IV (clinician-28.7%; researcher-59.3%), with the majority of reassigned DSM-IV residual cases reclassified as DSM-5 anorexia nervosa. Researcher and clinician diagnoses showed moderate inter-rater reliability under DSM-IV (κ=.48) and DSM-5 (κ=.57), though agreement for specific DSM-5 other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED) presentations was poor (κ=.05). DSM-5 revisions were associated with significantly less frequent residual eating disorder diagnoses, but not with reduced inter-rater reliability. Findings support specific dimensions of clinical utility for revised DSM-5 criteria for eating disorders.