Understanding the connection and relation between sleep and depression in a tertiary health-care center: Insights from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: There is a bidirectional relationship between sleep disturbance and depression, with which a new hypothesis could be generated, that is, sleep disturbance can be a prodromal event rather than a symptom of depression. Many long-term studies have identified insomnia as a risk factor for the onset or recurrence of depression in young, middle-aged, and older people and it can also increase the risk of self-harm and suicide, which can also exacerbate the medical comorbidity conditions and also increase the substance intake. Materials and Methods: Those patients attending the psychiatry outpatient department of tertiary Health-care center for 6 months were considered. Those patients who were diagnosed with depression as per the International Classification of Diseases-11 depression criteria were taken after getting proper informed consent from them. Then, those patients who satisfied the inclusion criteria were taken into the study and evaluated with self-structured pro forma including details regarding the sociodemographic profile, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and Insomnia Severity Index Scale to assess the severity of depression and sleep disturbance. Results: The prevalence of sleep disturbance in depressive individuals was found to be 78% (140). The significance was established between the severity of depression and the severity of insomnia (P<0.001), along with sleep duration (P<0.001), insomnia type (P=0.002), benzodiazepine usage (P<0.001) and self-harm ideas/attempts (P<0.001). Conclusion: Sleep is considered a major aspect of holistic care, as it may have an impact on the severity, frequency and duration of depression and its remission along with quality of life and mortality rate.

Keywords

• depression
• insomnia
• quality of life
• self-harm