Relationship of daytime fatigue and hyperarousal in patients with primary insomnia

Objective To study the relationship between daytime fatigue and hyperarousal in patients with primary insomnia. Methods One hundred and sixty eighty patients with primary insomnia as research group and 149 healthy people as control group were recruited during November 2013 to December 2014 in the psychiatry department of the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. The Hyperarousal Scale(HAS), Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale(PSAS), Fatigue scale-14(FS-14) and a visual analogue scale (VAS) were used to evaluate the symptom of hyperarousal trait, pre-sleep arousal, daytime fatigue and self reported sleep quality respectively. Results The participants in research group had more severe symptoms of hyperarousal trait[(41.9±9.7) vs (27.6±7.0)], pre-sleep arousal[(42.0±7.3) vs (22.1±4.7)], daytime fatigue[(9.2±3.1) vs (3.0±0.7)] than those in control group. According the multiple linear regressions, the daytime fatigue in research group was positively related not only to sleep quality, but also to hyperarousal trait and pre-sleep arousal. Conclusion Hyperarousal is an important factor which could affect the daytime fatigue in patients with primary insomnia and should be given more attention to. Key words: Sleep disorder; Fatigue; Arousal