The effects of poor sleep on cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to a laboratory stressor.

BACKGROUND: Recent research suggests that poor sleep may be associated with altered stress regulation. PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the associations between prior-night and prior-month sleep measures and affective, cognitive, and physiological responses to a laboratory stressor. METHODS: Ninety-eight (50 % female) young adults completed measures of sleep quality in the context of a laboratory stress study. Measures included positive (PA) and negative affects (NA) and blood pressure (BP) reactivity, as well as change in pre-sleep arousal. RESULTS: Prior-month poor sleep quality and sleep disturbances predicted dampened BP reactivity. Both prior-night and prior-month sleep quality predicted greater decrease in PA. Sleep-associated monitoring predicted NA reactivity and prolonged cognitive and affective activation. Prior-month sleep continuity predicted greater cognitive pre-sleep arousal change, and prior-month sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and disturbances predicted prolonged cognitive and affective activation. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that inadequate sleep confers vulnerability to poor cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to stress.

Spousal involvement in CPAP adherence among patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of spousal involvement on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) adherence and response to CPAP problems in male patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). METHODS: Wives' involvement (pressure, support, and collaboration), CPAP adherence and CPAP problems (e.g., mask leaks) were assessed for 10 days in 31 male OSA patients. Disease severity and pre-treatment ratings of relationship quality were tested as moderators of daily associations in multilevel models. Effects of wives' involvement were tested as predictors of day-to-day adherence and average nightly adherence at 3 months. RESULTS: Perception of wives' support predicted increased adherence only in patients with high disease severity. Collaboration increased following nights with lower adherence and greater CPAP problems. Patients with lower conflict in the relationship reported a greater increase in collaboration associated with CPAP problems. Patients with lower support in the relationship reported increased next-day support following nights with CPAP problems. Perceived pressure from the wife was not associated with increased adherence in day-to-day analyses and associated with poorer adherence at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between wives' involvement and adherence was bidirectional and influenced by disease and relationship context. The majority of findings demonstrated increased positive wife involvement as a reaction to adherence and problems with CPAP. Supportive and collaborative interventions have the potential to improve CPAP adherence and response to CPAP-related problems, particularly in patients with high disease severity. Pressure to use CPAP from the wife was not beneficial for adherence that day and predicted poorer adherence at 3 months. Further research is needed to test supportive spousal involvement as an adherence intervention.

Self-efficacy contributes to individual differences in subjective improvements using CPAP.

PURPOSE: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) improves depressive symptoms and daytime sleepiness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, there is variability in response to CPAP. This study examined individual differences in the daily associations between CPAP use and improvements in affect and sleepiness patients beginning CPAP. METHODS: This observational repeated measures study involved 31 CPAP-naïve patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea at an academic sleep disorders center. Patients completed pre-treatment assessments of OSA knowledge, expectations for CPAP, and treatment self-efficacy as well as a repeated daily assessment of positive affect and negative affect, sleepiness/fatigue, and CPAP adherence for 10 days beginning the first week of treatment. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. RESULTS: Nightly CPAP adherence predicted improvements in next-day positive affect, negative affect, and sleepiness/fatigue. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), treatment self-efficacy, and outcome expectancies were significant moderators of day-to-day improvement. Higher self-efficacy and lower AHI were associated with a stronger relationship between adherence and next-day improvements in positive affect and sleepiness. Very high-outcome expectances were associated with a weaker relationship between adherence and next-day improvements in sleepiness. Subjective sleepiness at pre-treatment did not give moderate improvements in next-day affect. CONCLUSIONS: Although CPAP use predicted daily improvements in affect and sleepiness for the majority of patients, patients with lower AHI, greater treatment self-efficacy, and moderate outcome expectancies reported stronger daily benefits from CPAP. For patients with high-treatment efficacy, adherence may be reinforced by a stronger link between adherence and daily improvements.

Relationship partner social behavior and continuous positive airway pressure adherence: The role of autonomy support.

OBJECTIVE: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a serious respiratory disorder, confers increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Adherence to the standard and effective treatment, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), is often poor. Personal relationships can influence adherence, but some forms of partner involvement (e.g., support, encouragement) have positive effects on CPAP adherence, whereas others (e.g., criticism, blame) are counterproductive. In the former, constructive partner efforts may enhance a patient's sense of autonomy, an important foundation for self-care. The present study examined how patients' perceptions of autonomy support from an intimate partner predict adherence to CPAP, and whether it is an independent predictor, relative to generally positive partner behavior (i.e., partner responsiveness) and partner negativity (i.e., negative social control). METHOD: Ninety-two married or cohabiting OSA patients (mean age 49.7 years) completed measures of perceived partner autonomy support, responsiveness, and negative social control at Days 14 and 60 of CPAP treatment. Objective daily CPAP machine adherence data were collected for 60 days. RESULTS: Perceived partner autonomy support predicted more minutes of CPAP used per night and increasing CPAP use over time. These effects were independent of the significant adverse effects of partner negative social control and the more limited beneficial effects of partner responsiveness. CONCLUSION: The study findings establish perceived partner autonomy support as an interpersonal predictor of adherence that is independent of negative social control and perceived partner responsiveness, and may inform psychosocial interventions for CPAP adherence and more general couple approaches to chronic illness management. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Prospective association between suicide cognitions and emotional responses to a laboratory stressor: The mediating role of nightly subjective sleep quality.

BACKGROUND: Sleep is a reliable correlate of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), yet few studies have directly examined negative affect in the context of this association. The present study combined daily experience methods with a laboratory paradigm to investigate suicide cognitions as a predictor of emotional responses to environmental stressors, and tested the role of nightly sleep parameters. METHOD: 72 participants (Mage = 24.25; 41 with a recent history of suicide ideation and 31 without a history of STBs) completed a four-day study. Suicide cognitions were measured on the first day, and actigraphy-based sleep duration and fragmentation, and morning ratings of prior night subjective sleep quality (SSQ) were subsequently measured over three consecutive nights. Participants returned on the fourth day to complete the Trier Social Stress Task, where self-report changes in negative affect immediately post-task (i.e., reactivity) and five minutes post-task (i.e., recovery) were observed. RESULTS: Regression analyses indicated that suicide cognitions predicted negative affect reactivity and recovery. Simple mediation analyses revealed that SSQ partially mediated the relation between suicide cognitions and negative affect recovery (especially shame), but not reactivity. No significant associations were observed for the actigraphy-based sleep parameters. LIMITATIONS: Just three nights of actigraphy-based data collection. A single item was used to measure SSQ. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide cognitions predict negative affective responses to situational stressors and SSQ may have a key role in this effect, especially the duration of negative emotional reactions. Hence, sleep and emotional reactivity may be potential targets for suicide prevention efforts.

Relationship quality and CPAP adherence in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

The prospective influence of relationship support and conflict on adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was examined over the first 3 months of CPAP treatment in 42 married, male patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). CPAP adherence reports were available for 23 patients. Patient ratings of marital conflict predicted average nightly adherence (beta = -0.357, p < .05), but ratings of marital support did not predict adherence. Three-month follow-up ratings of marital support and conflict, subjective sleepiness, depression, and functional impairment were available for 16 patients from the first sample. Six additional patients without adherence reports provided baseline and 3-month follow-up questionnaire data, which resulted in a total of 22 patients with follow-up questionnaire data. Following 3 months of CPAP, patients reported decreased marital conflict (d = 0.43, p < .05), sleepiness (d = 1.13, p < .001), depression (d = 0.73, p < .001), and functional impairment (d = 1.48, p < .001). These findings highlight the importance of evaluating marital conflict for OSA patients and suggest marital conflict may be a target for interventions to improve CPAP adherence.

Spousal involvement in CPAP: does pressure help?

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) improves sleep and quality of life for both patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and their spouses. However, few studies have investigated spousal involvement in treatment adherence. Aims of this observational study were to assess perceptions of spousal involvement and evaluate associations between involvement and adherence. METHODS: Spousal involvement in CPAP adherence was assessed in 23 married male OSA patients after the first week of treatment. At 3 months, 16 participants completed a second assessment of spousal involvement. Types of involvement assessed included positive (e.g., encouraging), negative (e.g., blaming), collaboration (e.g., working together), and one-sided (e.g., asking). An interpersonal measure of supportive behaviors was also administered at 3 months to evaluate the interpersonal qualities of spousal involvement types. Objective CPAP adherence data were available for 14 participants. RESULTS: Average frequency of spousal involvement ratings were low for each involvement type and only negative spousal involvement frequency decreased at 3 month follow-up (p = 0.003). Perceptions of collaborative spousal involvement were associated with higher CPAP adherence at 3 months (r = 0.75, p = 0.002). Positive, negative and one-sided involvement were not associated with adherence. Collaborative spousal involvement was associated with moderately warm and controlling interpersonal behaviors (affiliation, r = 0.55, p = 0.03, dominance r = 0.47, p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Patients reported low frequency but consistent and diverse perceptions of spousal involvement in CPAP over the first 3 months of treatment. Perceptions of collaborative spousal involvement were the only type associated with adherence and represent moderately warm and controlling interpersonal behavior. Interventions to increase spousal collaboration in CPAP may improve adherence.

A one year trial of methylphenidate in the treatment of ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of long-term methylphenidate treatment on symptom severity and social adjustment in adult ADHD. METHOD: Adults (n = 116) meeting operational diagnostic criteria for ADHD (the "Utah Criteria") entered a randomized double-blind crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo. Participants who improved on immediate-release methylphenidate entered a 12-month, open-label trial. Outcomes were assessed using the Wender-Reimherr Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Scale (WRAADDS), Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I), global assessment of functioning (GAF), and the Weissman Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). RESULTS: In the double-blind trial more patients improved (50% reduction of symptoms) receiving methylphenidate (74%) than placebo (21%, p = .001). During the open-label trial, symptom severity decreased 80% from baseline, and the WSAS decreased >50% in all subscales. The average GAF improved significantly (p < .0001). CONCLUSION: ADHD adults, who responded to methylphenidate in a short-tem, placebo-controlled trial, responded to long-term treatment with marked improvements in ADHD symptoms and psychosocial functioning.