Active at night, sleepy all day--sleep disturbances in patients with hepatitis C virus infection.
J Hepatol
; 60(4): 732-40, 2014 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24308991
BACKGROUND & AIMS: More than 50% of patients with chronic hepatitis C with only mild liver disease complain about chronic fatigue, daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality. The aim of the present study was to characterize and objectify the sleep disturbances in hepatitis C virus-infected patients. METHODS: Twenty-five women who had been infected with hepatitis C virus contaminated anti-D immunoglobulin in 1978/79 and 22 age-matched female healthy controls underwent actigraphy over a period of 5 days to measure motor activity and thereby sleep-wake-rhythm and in addition completed questionnaires for depression, health-related quality of life, fatigue and sleep, and a sleep diary. Liver cirrhosis, a history of neurological or psychiatric disease, history of intravenous drug abuse, shift work, or current medication with effect upon the central nervous system were exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The patients achieved higher scores for depression, fatigue and sleep disturbances and lower quality of life scores than the healthy controls. Actigraphy showed higher nocturnal activity and worse sleep efficiency in the patients, while the 24-h activity level did not differ between groups. Fatigue and quality of life scores correlated with bad sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that chronic fatigue is associated with bad sleep quality and increased nocturnal activity in HCV-infected patients suggesting an alteration of sleep architecture behind fatigue in HCV-associated encephalopathy.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Hepatitis C, Chronic
/
Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
J Hepatol
Journal subject:
GASTROENTEROLOGIA
Year:
2014
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany