Sleep quality in adolescents with substance use disorders

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sleep difficulty is a common symptom of substance users. Sleep disorders can have impact on development, physical and mental health and behavior, and social functioning of adolescents. Therefore, aim of this study to compare sleep quality of adolescents with substance use disorders and healthy subjects.

METHODS: Male adolescents with substance (cannabis and/or heroin) use disorders in Alcohol and Substance Treatment Center at Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, were evaluated. For control group, healthy male subjects were recruited from students in Faculty of Health Science at Istanbul University. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate the sleep quality. Participants were face-to-face individually interviewed to complete the PSQI in a private room.

RESULTS: Mean ages were 18.04±2.13 years for adolescents with substance use disorders (n=27) and 20.26±1.05 years for healty subjects (n=27). The average age of onset and duration of cannabis and heroin use were 14.8±1.7 years and 45.3±17.9 months, respectively. The PSQI total score in adolescents with substance use disorders and healthy subjects were 8.56±2.97 and 4.78±1.18, respectively. Adolescents with substance use disorders had significantly lower PSQI global and factor scores than healthy subjects (p < 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSION: This study indicated that male adolescents with substance use disorders had serious sleep problems compared to healthy subjects. Health care providers should pay close attention to the sleep quality of substance abusers in planning the appropriate treatment strategies.