Circadian Phase Assessments at Home

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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An estimated 23 million Americans, including adolescents and the elderly, suffer from circadian rhythm sleep disorders, such as delayed sleep phase disorder, advanced sleep phase disorder and winter depression. These conditions are characterized by persistent insomnia and/or excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired performance, reduced well being and lower quality of life. The negative symptoms result from a misalignment between the timing of sleep and the internal circadian clock. Clinical research has demonstrated that circadian rhythm sleep disorders are most effectively diagnosed (differentiated from other causes of insomnia) and treated if each individual patient's circadian phase is known. The timing of the master internal circadian clock is most reliably measured from the onset of the endogenous circadian rhythm of melatonin, a neuroendocrine hormone, as measured in dim light (dim light melatonin onset, or DLMO). However to date the reliable and valid assessment of the DLMO is limited to the research laboratory setting. This study is to test a streamlined procedure for the accurate assessment of circadian phase (DLMO) outside of the laboratory that will provide clinicians and researchers with a novel diagnostic and research tool. In this way the underlying neurobiological cause of a patient's insomnia and/or circadian rhythm disorder can more readily be diagnosed and treated. Specific Aim 1 is to validate procedures for at-home circadian phase assessment in a sample of healthy people. Validation will occur by (1) objectively measuring compliance to the at-home procedures and (2) comparing DLMOs collected at home to DLMOs collected in the laboratory, in a within-subjects counterbalanced design. Specific Aim 2 is to validate the same at home procedures in patients with delayed sleep phase disorder. Specific Aim 3 is to conduct rigorous analyses to inform future users which subject characteristics and light levels predict (1) compliance to the at home procedures and (2) valid at-home DLMOs. The results of this 3 year study will have substantial implications for the translation of basic and clinical research to the community: (1) the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia and circadian rhythm sleep disorders will be significantly enhanced, thus improving public health and safety, mood and quality of life, (2) community participation in research will be improved, particularly in vulnerable and under represented populations, thus increasing scientific knowledge and (3) research and clinical costs will be substantially reduced.

Conditions
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Healthy Controls, Delayed Sleep Phase

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: At home saliva sampling


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Healthy adult volunteers or people with Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder Exclusion Criteria: Color blindness with the Ishihara test

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 69 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: Healthy Controls<br> | Behavioral: At home saliva sampling<br>* Saliva samples taken every half an hour in evening before bedtime.<br>|
| Active Comparator: Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder<br> | Behavioral: At home saliva sampling<br>* Saliva samples taken every half an hour in evening before bedtime.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dim Light Melatonin Onset | The DLMO is assessed twice at home and twice in the laboratory. | 9 days |