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Abstract
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INTRODUCTION: Sleep problem is a frequent complaint of alcohol-dependent individuals during chronic use of alcohol, acute withdrawal, and even after sustained abstinence. Insomnia is associated with complaints of sleep-onset, sleep-maintenance, early morning awakening and nonrestorative sleep.
METHODS: Totally 364 alcohol-dependent individuals were assessed at baseline and 6-month period intervals across a 2.5 year study period. Each assessment included the Time-Line Follow-Back interview (TLFB), the Sleep Problems Questionnaire (SPQ), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). All statistical analyses were performed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling.
RESULTS: The prevalence of insomnia at baseline was 45.3% with an average SPQ score of 9.2 ± 5.6. When modeled separately, both quantity of drinking (p <.01) and depression (p <.001) predicted insomnia severity, controlling for time, age, and gender. Drinking also predicted depressive symptoms (p <.001), and its effect on insomnia was mediated by depression severity (p <.001).
CONCLUSION: The main finding of this prospective study was that depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between drinking and insomnia severity, controlling for time, age and gender. The current study implies that attention to depressive symptoms in addition to alcohol consumption is an important component of reducing insomnia severity when treating alcohol-dependent patients. GRANTS: D43 TW005818, T32 AA007477, K24 AA00304, R01 AA014442.
Language: en |