Birth Order and Sibling Gender Ratio of a Clinical Sample the Relationship between Perceived Sleep Quality, Polysomnographic Measures and Depressive Symptoms in Chemically-injured Veterans: a Pilot Study

Objective: Sleep complaints are common among Iranian chemically-injured veterans. The growing body of research has investigated (in) equalities between such subjective complaints and objective sleep records. Moreover, sleep complaints are associated with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, also, have been frequently reported in chemically-injured veterans. Therefore, the purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the relationship between perceived sleep quality, polysomnographic measures and depressive symptoms in Iranian veterans with chemical injuries. Methods: In this pilot study, 35 Iranian veterans with chemical injuries complaining of a sleep problem were selected. Initially, participants were evaluated via all-night polysomnography, then, they completed the research questionnaires. Collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Data analyses showed that there was no significant correlation between many of self-reposted variables and polysomnogaphic recordings, however, remarkable relationships were found between the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Beck Depression Inventory scores. Conclusion: The findings indicated that sleep complaints of chemically-injured veterans are not equivalent to objective sleep disturbances, however, these complaints are largely associated with level of depression. This study emphasizes the important role of mood in sleep evaluation. Further, the findings suggest using a combination of both subjective and objective measures for accurate assessment of sleep quality in Iranian veterans with chemical injuries (i.e., multimethod approach). Chemically injured veterans experience a variety of physical and psychological sufferings; of which, sleep disorder is one of the most common complaints among them (1). According to research findings, these veterans report more sleep disturbances, in comparison with both the general population (2), and veterans with nonchemical injuries (3). One of the growing areas of the study of sleep disorders is the investigation of (in)equalities between subjective measures (e.g. self-report instruments) and objective measures (e.g. laboratory methods such as polysomnography and actigraphy), as well as attempt to identify factors that can moderate or mediate such relationships. For example, the term of paradoxical insomnia which was previously called sleep state misperception, refers to the significant difference between the patients' perception of their sleep problems and data from objective sleep measurements. In other words, paradoxical insomnia is diagnosed when a patient complaints of difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep and no objective evidence of sleep disruption is found (4). Some studies have reported significant differences between subjective and objective measures (5-8). In contrast, some other studies have found a significant association between objective sleep indices and patients' self-reports (9-12). Therefore, present evidence …