The prevalence of the sleep disturbances among the patients with substance use disorders

Background. There is evidence that sleep disorders may be significantly linked to the development of the substance use disorders (SUD). However, data about the prevalence of the sleep disturbances among patients with SUD in Russia are relatively limited.

Aim. To evaluate the frequency of the sleep disturbances among patients (n = 196) with alcohol (ÀD, n = 102), opioid (ÎD, n = 55) and polysubstance dependence (PD, n = 39) seeking addiction medical care.

Materials and methods. We conduct a cross-sectional study of sleep disturbances among patients in St. Petersburg in 2017–2018. The modified Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was administered to assess sleep during different periods of time: lifetime, the past 12 months, and the past 30 days.

Results. All groups demonstrated relatively high presence of different sleep disorders (range: 49.0–76.5% among 196). The sleep disturbances over the past 30 days were more common in the AD group (60.8– 73.5% among 102) with the early morning awakening as the most frequent complaint. In the PD group the prevalence of lifetime sleep disturbances was high (94.9–100.0% among 39), whereas insomnia disorders were relatively rare over the past 30 days. However, it was sleep disturbances over the past 30 days that were statistically significantly more often (p < 0,05) observed in the group of patients who actively consume narcotic substances (40.2–87.2%), compared with the group of patients in remission (0–16.7%).

Conclusion. The results demonstrated the high prevalence of insomnia among patients with SUD and suggested that the remission have a positive effect on the symptoms of sleep disorders. Further studies of the association between sleep disturbances and SUD progression are needed. 

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