0872 Suicidality is Associated with Elevated Sleep Heart Rate, BMI, and Snoring in Veterans with Chronic Severe PTSD

• Published in: Sleep (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2019-04, Vol.42 (Supplement_1), p.A350-A351
• Main Authors: Woodward, Steven H, Khan, Christina, Jamison, Andrea, Arsenault, Ned J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body mass index; Heart rate; Medical research; Post traumatic stress disorder; Sleep; Suicides & suicide attempts
• ISSN: 0161-8105; 1550-9109
• DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsz067.870

Introduction Two large epidemiological studies (Lemogne et al, 2011; Chang et al, 2016) have found baseline heart rate, assessed as part of a general health survey, to be a significant, independent, positive predictor of future completed suicide. Sleep provides an excellent opportunity to measure basal heart rate. We hypothesized that sleep heart rate would distinguish Veterans with chronic PTSD who endorsed suicidality from those that did not. Methods Methods: Participants were 103 male, US Military Veterans engaged in residential treatment for PTSD and in a study of the impact of canine companionship on PTSD symptoms. Their beds were equipped with mattress actigraphs enabling the acquisition of all-night heart rate derived from the thoracic pulse as well as snoring. Participants provided between 7 and 183 nights of data. Suicidality was coded 1 if a participant reported both current suicidal ideation and a history of attempts, and 0 if he reported neither. Results Results: Sleep heart rate was 3.81 BPM higher in participants coded as suicidal versus those who were not (67.09 vs 63.28 BPM, F(1,101) = 4.74, p = 0.032). Snoring was also more prevalent in those coded as suicidal (1.18 vs 0.81 sec/epoch). BMI, though intended for use as a covariate, was also higher in participants coded as suicidal versus those who were not (29.4 vs 27.6). In a logistic regression, 63% of participants were correct classified as suicidal vs non-suicidal based on heart rate, snoring, and BMI. Conclusion Conclusion: Veterans, persons with PTSD, and persons with sleep disturbances, are all at elevated risk for suicide (cf. Pigeon et al, 2012). In a relatively small sample combining all three of these risk factors, sleep heart rate, snoring, and BMI, all distinguished those endorsing suicide from those who did not. These findings suggest that sleep parameters obtained longitudinally using unobtrusive methods could be informative regarding changes in suicidality over time. Support (If Any) Support: Defense Health Program, Military Operational Medical Research Program, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Award Number: W81XWH-15-2-0005.