J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1992; 4:249-256
Copyright © 1992 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in elderly patients with concurrent symptoms of depression and dementia
DJ Buysse, CF Reynolds 3d, CC Hoch, PR Houck, SR Berman, J Matzzie and DJ Kupfer
Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep measures distinguish elderly patients with
depression from those with dementia. The authors used a 2-night REM sleep
deprivation (RSD) protocol to characterize patients with mixed symptoms of
depression and dementia in comparison with patients with "pure" depression
or dementia and healthy controls. Mixed-symptom patients resembled dementia
patients in baseline sleep measures, but their large change in phasic REM
activity following RSD suggests neurobiological similarities to depression.
Mixed-symptom patients with stable cognitive impairment had greater REM
sleep rebound than those with a more progressive dementing course. These
results are consistent with previous neuropathological and neurochemical
data.
