Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders: Gibbons LE

McCurry SM, Gibbons LE, Logsdon RG, Vitiello MV, Teri L. · Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98115, USA. · J Am Geriatr Soc. · Pubmed #15877554 No free full text.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether a comprehensive sleep education program (Nighttime Insomnia Treatment and Education for Alzheimer's Disease (NITE-AD)) could improve sleep in dementia patients living at home with their family caregivers. DESIGN: A randomized, controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their family caregivers. INTERVENTION: All participants received written materials describing age- and dementia-related changes in sleep and standard principles of good sleep hygiene. Caregivers in active treatment (n=17) received specific recommendations about setting up and implementing a sleep hygiene program for the dementia patient and training in behavior management skills. Patients in active treatment were also instructed to walk daily and increase daytime light exposure with the use of a light box. Control subjects (n=19) received general dementia education and caregiver support. MEASUREMENTS: Primary sleep outcomes were derived for patients and caregivers from 1 week of sleep-wake activity measured at baseline, posttest (2 months), and 6-month follow-up using an Actillume wrist-movement recorder. Secondary patient outcomes included the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Cornell Depression Scale, and the Revised Memory and Behavior Problem Checklist. Caregiver self-reports included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Center for Epidemiological Study of Depression Scale. RESULTS: Patients participating in NITE-AD showed significantly greater (P<.05) posttest reductions in number of nighttime awakenings, total time awake at night, and depression, and increases in weekly exercise days than control subjects. At 6-month follow-up, treatment gains were maintained, and additional significant improvements in duration of night awakenings emerged. When cognitive level was controlled, NITE-AD patients had lower longitudinal ratings of daytime sleepiness than controls. There was a trend for control subjects to spend more time in bed at 6 months than NITE-AD patients. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first evidence that patients with AD who are experiencing sleep problems can benefit from behavioral techniques (specifically, sleep hygiene education, daily walking, and increased light exposure) that are known to improve sleep in nondemented, institutionalized older adults.

McCurry SM, Gibbons LE, Logsdon RG, Teri L. · Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, University of Washington, Box 357263, Seattle, WA 98195-7263, USA. · J Gerontol Nurs. · Pubmed #14753054 No free full text.

Abstract: This study was conducted to describe the relationship between anxiety and nighttime behavioral disturbance in a community-dwelling sample of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Data from 153 patients with probable or possible AD and their family caregivers were analyzed using logistic regression modeling. Ratings of nighttime behavioral disturbance were based on caregiver reports of how often patients had awakened them at night during the past week. Standardized ratings for patient cognitive, functional, and behavioral status, and for caregiver sleep, depression, and burden were collected. Fifty-six percent of the patients with AD showed symptoms of anxiety, and 29% had awakened their caregiver at least once at night during the past week. Patient awakening was associated with higher levels of patient anxiety (odds ratio [OR] = 2.1; confidence Interval [CI] = 1.4, 2.9) and patient impairments in activities of daily living (OR = 1.6, CI = 1.2, 2.3). No other demographic, cognitive, functional, or behavioral variables were significant, including depression. In univariate analyses, individual patient anxiety symptoms (e.g., feeling anxious; showing physical signs of anxiety, agitation, and irritability) were significant risk factors for patient awakenings. Of these, showing physical signs of anxiety remained a significant risk factor in multivariate analyses. Results suggest that anxiety and nighttime awakening are highly interrelated in patients with moderate dementia due to AD, and treatments targeting both may be more efficacious than those focusing on anxiety or sleep alone. They also reveal the importance of assessing anxiety as well as depression in the research and clinical care of patients with AD.