Sleep medicine
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Patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and/or orofacial pain (OFP) frequently experience poor sleep quality or suffer from comorbid sleep disorders. Study results suggest that in chronic pain patients, an improvement in sleep quality critically influences the outcomes of interventions on mood and pain. Yet, only a few studies have systematically sought to evaluate the sleep quality of TMD/OFP patients. ⋯ Yet, in future studies, an assessment of the relationship between sleep disturbances and chronic pain will have to include instruments measuring the effect of mediator variables such as cognitive or emotional arousal. Research is required to clarify if existing self-reported questionnaires measuring these aspects will promote further insights or if there is a need for new instruments. This future research direction would blend into the overall biopsychosocial concept of TMD/OFP diagnoses and treatment.
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Observational Study
Sleep apnea and periodic leg movements in the first year after spinal cord injury.
Sleep disturbances are frequently reported by patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Studies have shown an increased incidence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) in people with stable long-term SCI. ⋯ This study confirms a high frequency of SDB and PLMS in SCI patients in the first year following injury. Independently from possible sub-acute and chronic clinical variables, the level and the completeness of the spinal cord lesion are the main factors associated respectively with an early development of SDB and PLMS.
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Data are scarce on respiratory events during sleep for children treated at home with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The present study aimed to characterize the respiratory events with CPAP during sleep and to analyze their clinical consequences. ⋯ The index of respiratory events during CPAP treatment for stable children is low. As these events may be associated with an oxygen desaturation or an autonomic arousal, and as nocturnal gas exchange cannot predict PG results, a systematic sleep study seems justified for the routine follow-up of children treated with CPAP.
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After the pandemic H1N1 influenza ASO3-adjuvanted vaccine, Pandemrix©, was used in late 2009 and early 2010, the incidence of narcolepsy increased in many European countries. This incidence mainly increased in children and adolescents and, to a lesser degree, in adults. ⋯ Regarding polysomnographic and actigraphic characteristics, there were no dramatic deviations between H1N1-vaccine-related and sporadic narcolepsy. Circadian rhythms indicated some interesting new findings with respect to the H1N1-vaccine-related disease. An actigraphy recording of 1-2 weeks is useful when studying the nocturnal aspects of narcolepsy and sleep-wake rhythms of narcoleptic patients.
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Dysfunctional thinking about sleep is a central aspect in the perpetuation of primary insomnia and a target symptom of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Insomnia symptoms also occur in other sleep disorders, but it is not known to what extent it is related to dysfunctional thinking about sleep. ⋯ The observation of increased DBAS scores in other sleep disorders besides primary insomnia underscores the usefulness of a broadened diagnostic procedure and suggests that CBT-I modules may be a complementary treatment tool for these disorders.