Sleep medicine
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It is known that the number of arousals per hour of sleep increases linearly across life, while the amount of cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) undergoes a u-shaped evolution. The present study aimed at investigating the differences, overlaps and age-related distribution of arousals and CAP components, i.e. subtypes A1, A2, A3. The relationship between the phase A subtypes and the structural organization of sleep was also evaluated. ⋯ Arousals show only one side of the multi-faceted activation complexes, whereas the three subtypes of CAP provide a graded picture of arousal features from the strongest A3 subtypes, showing a prevalence of EEG desynchrony, to the weakest A1 phases, which are dominated by EEG synchrony and represent the prevalent components of CAP (60% of all the phase A subtypes).
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Background: Insomnia is a prevalent health complaint that is often difficult to evaluate reliably. There is an important need for brief and valid assessment tools to assist practitioners in the clinical evaluation of insomnia complaints. Objective: This paper reports on the clinical validation of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) as a brief screening measure of insomnia and as an outcome measure in treatment research. ⋯ In addition, there is a close convergence between scores obtained from the ISI patient's version and those from the clinician's and significant other's versions. Conclusions: The present findings indicate that the ISI is a reliable and valid instrument to quantify perceived insomnia severity. The ISI is likely to be a clinically useful tool as a screening device or as an outcome measure in insomnia treatment research.