Schumm Hannah, Steil Regina, Lechner-Meichsner Franziska, Morina Nexhmedin, Weise Cornelia, Mewes Ricarda, Kuck Sascha, Reuter Julia, Giesebrecht Julia, Cludius Barbara, Ehring Thomas
Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
J Trauma Stress. 2023 Dec;36(6):1176-1183. doi: 10.1002/jts.22983. Epub 2023 Oct 26.
Many patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffer from sleep problems, leading to impairments in social functioning and quality of life. Refugees are at high risk for sleep problems due to stressful life circumstances and a high PTSD prevalence. However, limited data on the frequency of sleep problems in refugees with diagnosed PTSD exist. This study examined the frequency of sleep problems in refugees with PTSD and their associations with symptoms of PTSD. Additionally, we investigated the contribution of sleep problems to social functioning and quality of life. Participants (N = 70) were refugees from different countries of origin currently living in Germany. All participants met the criteria for PTSD and completed measures of PTSD symptom severity, subjective sleep problems, social impairment, and quality of life. There was a very high frequency of sleep problems in the sample (100%), and sleep problems were significantly associated with both clinician-rated, r = .47, and self-rated, r = .30, PTSD symptom severity after controlling for overlapping items. Contrary to expectations, sleep problems did not predict social impairment, d = 0.16, nor quality of life, d = 0.13, beyond the effect of other PTSD symptoms. The findings highlight the widespread frequency of sleep problems among refugees. Future studies should assess the causal nature of the association between sleep problems and measures of psychosocial functioning in more detail and examine its dynamic change over time.
许多创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者存在睡眠问题，这导致社交功能和生活质量受损。由于生活压力大且PTSD患病率高，难民面临睡眠问题的风险很高。然而，关于确诊PTSD的难民中睡眠问题发生频率的数据有限。本研究调查了患有PTSD的难民中睡眠问题的发生频率及其与PTSD症状的关联。此外，我们还研究了睡眠问题对社交功能和生活质量的影响。参与者（N = 70）是目前居住在德国的来自不同原籍国的难民。所有参与者均符合PTSD标准，并完成了PTSD症状严重程度、主观睡眠问题、社交障碍和生活质量的测量。样本中睡眠问题的发生率非常高（100%），在控制重叠项目后，睡眠问题与临床医生评定的PTSD症状严重程度（r = .47）和自我评定的PTSD症状严重程度（r = .30）均显著相关。与预期相反，除了其他PTSD症状的影响外，睡眠问题并不能预测社交障碍（d = 0.16）或生活质量（d = 0.13）。研究结果凸显了难民中睡眠问题的普遍存在。未来的研究应更详细地评估睡眠问题与心理社会功能测量之间关联的因果性质，并考察其随时间的动态变化。
