Comparative analysis of subjective estimation and polysomnography of sleep quality in patients with insomnia

Objective To study the subjective estimation on sleep quality of the patients with insomnia followed by objective observation on their sleep quality using polysomnography and to compare the subjective estimate of sleep with objective polysomnographic data.Methods 100 patients of insomnia amt 100 normal controls were measured with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)and underwent all-night polysomnography.The sleep latency,total sleep time and sleep efficiency were rated after getting up the next morning.Results There were significant differences of sleep quality between the patients with insomnia and the normal controls.A prolonged sleep latency(patients with insomnia 43.69±11.54,normal controls 16.01 ±10.44),decreased total sleep duration(patients with insomnia 314.65±91.89,normal contols 446.41± 77.81),low sleep efficiency(patients with insomnia 64.51%±18.59%,normal controls 91.32%± 3.58%),abnormal sleep architecture such as decreased REM sleep(patients with insomnia 33.26±15.61, normal controls 93.21±21.63)were found in patients with insomnia.The difference between subjective sleep and objective estimates of sleep was significant.Conclusions The insomnia patients have lower sleep quality and varying features of PSG parameters.There are differences between subjective and objective estimates of sleep in the insomniacs.The insomniacs tend to overestimate the sleep latency and underestimate the sleep time.Observation and quantitative analysis of polysomnograms might distinguish subjective insomnia from objective insomnia.