Using an Ambulatory Technology Approach to Understand Nightmares, Nightmare Enactment, and Sleep-Related Violent Behavior: Towards Precision Diagnosis in PTSD
Abstract
PTSD occurs in 8 to10 of civilians, and 20 to 30 of combat veterans. Sleep problems, including distressing nightmares, are present in nearly all individuals with PTSD. The goal of this study is to characterize the sleep physiological background and clinical factors which contribute to trauma nightmares, nightmare enactment during sleep, and sleep-related violent behaviors in trauma-exposed male and female U.S. military veterans. The primary scientific aims of our study are as follows: (1) To use an ambulatory, participant administered multi-modal approach including sleep encephalogram (EEG), sleep diary app, standard wristband actigraphy with event marker, and video-recording of sleep, to examine the sleep architectural background of nightmares, nightmare enactment, and sleep-related violent behaviors; (2) To use an ambulatory, participant-administered approach including EEG, pulse oximetry, and respiratory belts, to examine the relationship between respiratory events during sleep and nightmares, nightmare enactment, and non-nightmare distressed awakenings; (3) To use a machine learning approach, utilize the full range of demographic, clinical, trauma, sleep/wake activity, sleep architectural and sleep-associated physiological data in the sample to identify independent and interacting predictors of the target sleep disturbances in the sample.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1142154
Entities
People
- Anne Richards
Organizations
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education