Polygraphic sleep measures differentiate alcoholics and stimulant abusers during short-term abstinence

We hypothesized that stimulant abusers would sleep more and have more rapid eye movement (REM) sleep than primary alcoholics during acute withdrawal (first 10 days drug free) but would have opposite patterns during subacute withdrawal (days 11–14 drug free). We compared polygraphic sleep patterns du...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychiatry (1969) 1995-12, Vol.38 (12), p.831-836
Main Authors: Thompson, Peter M., Gillin, J. Christian, Golshan, Shahrokh, Irwin, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Addictive behaviors
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Alcoholism
Alcoholism - rehabilitation
amphetamine
Amphetamine - adverse effects
Biological and medical sciences
cocaine
Cocaine - adverse effects
Drug addiction
Ethanol - adverse effects
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neurologic Examination - drug effects
Polysomnography - drug effects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
REM sleep
Sleep, REM - drug effects
Sleep, REM - physiology
Street Drugs - adverse effects
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - diagnosis
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - physiopathology
total sleep time
withdrawal
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Summary:We hypothesized that stimulant abusers would sleep more and have more rapid eye movement (REM) sleep than primary alcoholics during acute withdrawal (first 10 days drug free) but would have opposite patterns during subacute withdrawal (days 11–14 drug free). We compared polygraphic sleep patterns during acute withdrawal (days 3–10) for 7 stimulant abusers and 8 alcoholics and during subacute withdrawal (days 11–14) for 7 different stimulant abusers and 8 different alcoholics. For comparison purposes, a group of normal controls from our preexisting database were matched for age and gender. Two statistically significant interactions were found: consistent with our hypothesis, stimulant abusers showed greater total sleep (TST) and REM sleep during acute withdrawal than subacute withdrawal, compared with alcoholics. In contrast, alcoholics showed less TST and REM sleep during acute withdrawal than during subacute withdrawal. Our polygraphic sleep data support the hypothesis that physiological withdrawal differs in alcoholics compared with stimulant abusers. Different mechanisms may underlie withdrawal in these two substances.
ISSN:0006-3223
1873-2402
DOI:10.1016/0006-3223(95)00070-4