Frontiers in Psychiatry (Dec 2021)

Associations Between High Plasma Methylxanthine Levels, Sleep Disorders and Polygenic Risk Scores of Caffeine Consumption or Sleep Duration in a Swiss Psychiatric Cohort

  • Nermine Laaboub,
  • Mehdi Gholam,
  • Guibet Sibailly,
  • Jennifer Sjaarda,
  • Aurélie Delacrétaz,
  • Aurélie Delacrétaz,
  • Céline Dubath,
  • Claire Grosu,
  • Marianna Piras,
  • Nicolas Ansermot,
  • Severine Crettol,
  • Frederik Vandenberghe,
  • Carole Grandjean,
  • Franziska Gamma,
  • Murielle Bochud,
  • Armin von Gunten,
  • Kerstin Jessica Plessen,
  • Philippe Conus,
  • Chin B. Eap,
  • Chin B. Eap,
  • Chin B. Eap,
  • Chin B. Eap

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.756403
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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Objective: We first sought to examine the relationship between plasma levels of methylxanthines (caffeine and its metabolites) and sleep disorders, and secondarily between polygenic risk scores (PRS) of caffeine consumption or sleep duration with methylxanthine plasma levels and/or sleep disorders in a psychiatric cohort.Methods: Plasma levels of methylxanthines were quantified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. In inpatients, sleep disorder diagnosis was defined using ICD-10 “F51.0,” sedative drug intake before bedtime, or hospital discharge letters, while a subgroup of sedative drugs was used for outpatients. The PRS of coffee consumption and sleep duration were constructed using publicly available GWAS results from the UKBiobank.Results: 1,747 observations (1,060 patients) were included (50.3% of observations with sleep disorders). Multivariate analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, setting of care and psychiatric diagnoses showed that patients in the highest decile of plasma levels of methylxanthines had more than double the risk for sleep disorders compared to the lowest decile (OR = 2.13, p = 0.004). PRS of caffeine consumption was associated with plasma levels of caffeine, paraxanthine, theophylline and with their sum (β = 0.1; 0.11; 0.09; and 0.1, pcorrected = 0.01; 0.02; 0.02; and 0.01, respectively) but not with sleep disorders. A trend was found between the PRS of sleep duration and paraxanthine levels (β = 0.13, pcorrected = 0.09).Discussion: Very high caffeine consumption is associated with sleep disorders in psychiatric in- and outpatients. Future prospective studies should aim to determine the benefit of reducing caffeine consumption in high caffeine-consuming patients suffering from sleep disorders.

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