Longitudinal Associations Between PTSD and Sleep Disturbances Among World Trade Center Responders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Briggs, Madasen ; Contractor, Ateka A. ; Kotov, Roman ; Luft, Benjamin J. ; Messman, Brett A. ; Miao, Jiaju ; Oltmanns, Joshua R. ; Ruggero, Camilo J. ; Slavish, Danica C. ; Waszczuk, Monika A.
• Description:
  Objective/Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by substantial disruptions in sleep quality, continuity, and depth. Sleep problems also may exacerbate PTSD symptom severity. Understanding how PTSD and sleep may reinforce one another is critical for informing effective treatments. Patients/methods: In a sample of 452 World Trade Center 9/11 responders (mean age = 55.22, 89.4% male, 66.1% current or former police), we examined concurrent and cross-lagged associations between PTSD symptom severity, insomnia symptoms, nightmares, and sleep quality at 3 time points approx. 1 year apart. Data were analyzed using random intercept cross-lagged panel models. Results: PTSD symptom severity and sleep variables were relatively stable across time (intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.63 to 0.84). Individuals with more insomnia symptoms, more nightmares, and poorer sleep quality had greater PTSD symptom severity, on average. Within-person results revealed that greater insomnia symptoms and nightmares at Time 1 were concurrently associated with greater PTSD symptoms at Time 1. Insomnia symptoms were also concurrently associated with PTSD symptoms at Times 2 and 3, respectively. Cross-lagged and autoregressive results revealed that PTSD symptoms and nightmares predicted nightmares at the next timepoint. Conclusions: Overall, results suggest PTSD and sleep problems may be linked at the same point in time but may not always influence each other longitudinally. Further, individuals who experience more sleep disturbances on average may suffer from more debilitating PTSD. Evidence-based treatments for PTSD may consider incorporating treatment of underlying sleep disturbances and nightmares. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Responders Cognitive Function Emergency Responders Insomnia Mental Health Nightmares Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Random Intercept Cross-lagged Panel Model Sleep Disorders Traumatic Incident Stress World Trade Center WTC

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• ISSN:
  1389-9457
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• Volume:
  101
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066614
• Citation:
  Sleep Med 2023 Jan; 101:269-277
• Contact Point Address:
  Danica C. Slavish, Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Denton, TX 76203, USA
• Email:
  danica.slavish@unt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York - Stony Brook
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Sleep Medicine
• End Date:
  20210831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c470592413974ec21676f7a0dfd5a2d15f149ce0f16ae4369e5e79d3338d5d29474843f90416b48b8ebd70ad14992a3fba2bfecc34dd0ad26945d3e5f698a76c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230766/cdc_230766_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 863.24 KB ]