Prazosin for Trauma Nightmares and Sleep Disturbances in Combat Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Prazosin is significantly effective to reduce sleep disturbance and trauma nightmare in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, results of different studies were evaluated. OBJECTIVES: The current randomized clinical trial aimed to assess the effects of prazosin on sleep parameters and nightmares among veterans with chronic PTSD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two veterans with chronic war-induced PTSD and distressing nightmares were randomized into prazosin and placebo groups for eight weeks. The main symptoms were qualified using the recurrent distressing dreams item of the clinician administered PTSD scale (CAPS) and the daytime symptom severity was measured by PTSD checklist (PCL) and the objective sleep quality assessment by actigraphy. RESULTS: Compared with placebo, prazosin had no significant effects on reduction of daytime symptoms (P = 0.69) and frequency and intensity of trauma-related nightmares. Also, there were no significant differences between pre- and post-treatment actigraphy measurements (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study findings showed that prazosin had no significant effect on reduction of PTSD symptoms as well as nightmares among veterans with chronic PTSD. Further clinical trials are needed to define the effect of prazosin on sleep physiology and whether such effects regarding the therapeutic response.

Evaluation of Berlin Questionnaire Validity for Sleep Apnea Risk in Sleep Clinic Populations.

INTRODUCTION: The Berlin questionnaire (BQ) is a common tool to screen for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in the general population, but its application in the clinical sleep setting is still challenging. The aim of this study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of the BQ compared to the apnea-hypopnea index obtained from polysomnography recordings obtained from a sleep clinic in Iran. METHODS: We recruited 100 patients who were referred to the Sleep Disorders Research Center of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences for the evaluation of suspected sleep-disorder breathing difficulties. Patients completed a Persian version of BQ and underwent one night of PSG. For each patient, Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) was calculated to assess the diagnosis and severity of OSA. Severity of OSA was categorized as mild when AHI was between 5 and 15, moderate when it was between 15 and 30, and severe when it was more than 30. RESULTS: BQ results categorized 65% of our patients as high risk and 35% as low risk for OSA. The sensitivity and the specificity of BQ for OSA diagnosis with AHI>5 were 77.3% and 23.1%, respectively. Positive predictive value was 68.0% and negative predictive value was 22.0%. Moreover, the area under curve was 0.53 (95% CI: 0.49 - 0.67, P=0.38). DISCUSSION: Our findings suggested that BQ, despite its advantages in the general population, is not a precise tool to determine the risk of sleep apnea in the clinical setting, particularly in the sleep clinic population.