Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Sleep in the Daily Lives of World Trade Center Responders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dietch JR ; Kotov R ; Luft BJ ; Ruggero CJ ; Schuler K ; Taylor DJ
• Description:
  Sleep disturbances are common in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and can have major impacts on workplace performance and functioning. Although effects between PTSD and sleep broadly have been documented, little work has tested their day-to-day temporal relationship particularly in those exposed to occupational trauma. The present study examined daily, bidirectional associations between PTSD symptoms and self-reported sleep duration and quality in World Trade Center (WTC) responders oversampled for PTSD. WTC responders (N = 202; 19.3% with current PTSD diagnosis) were recruited from the Long Island site of the WTC health program. Participants were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; SCID; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1997) and completed daily assessments of PTSD symptoms, sleep duration and sleep quality for 7 days. PTSD symptoms on a given day were prospectively associated with shorter sleep duration (β = -.13) and worse sleep quality (β = -.18) later that night. Reverse effects were also significant but smaller, with reduced sleep duration (not quality) predicting increased PTSD the next day (β = -.04). Effects of PTSD on sleep duration and quality were driven by numbing symptoms, whereas effects of sleep duration on PTSD were largely based on intrusion symptoms. PTSD symptoms and sleep have bidirectional associations that occur on a daily basis, representing potential targets to disrupt maintenance of each. Improving PTSD numbing symptoms may improve sleep, and increasing sleep duration may improve intrusion symptoms in individuals with exposure to work-related traumatic events. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Emergency Responders Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Ecological Momentary Assessment Behavior Patterns Disaster Responders Emergency Responders Occupational Psychology Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress PTSD Rescue Workers Sleep Sleep Disorders World Trade Center WTC

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• ISSN:
  1076-8998
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056421
• Citation:
  J Occup Health Psychol 2019 Dec; 24(6):689-702
• Contact Point Address:
  Camilo J. Ruggero, Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #311280, Denton, TX 76203
• Email:
  camilo.ruggero@unt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  State University New York Stony Brook
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20140701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
• End Date:
  20170630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c570199eb8eda773fcddb3b0d3e7aa3b4a7caac0b26165880a12484ee9fe70ded076a0146c8ace76ada1240f7581fd37f6dd84329bd7d6c217088f121da3008a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214029/cdc_214029_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 298.14 KB ]