The Relationship between Perceived Sleep Quality, Polysomnographic Measures and Depressive Symptoms in Chemically-Injured Veterans: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: Sleep complaints are common among Iranian chemically-injured veterans. The growing body of research has investigated (in) equalities between such subjective complaints and objective sleep records. Moreover, sleep complaints are associated with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, also, have been frequently reported in chemically-injured veterans. Therefore, the purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the relationship between perceived sleep quality, polysomnographic measures and depressive symptoms in Iranian veterans with chemical injuries. METHODS: In this pilot study, 35 Iranian veterans with chemical injuries complaining of a sleep problem were selected. Initially, participants were evaluated via all-night polysomnography, then, they completed the research questionnaires. Collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Data analyses showed that there was no significant correlation between many of self-reposted variables and polysomnogaphic recordings, however, remarkable relationships were found between the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Beck Depression Inventory scores. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that sleep complaints of chemically-injured veterans are not equivalent to objective sleep disturbances, however, these complaints are largely associated with level of depression. This study emphasizes the important role of mood in sleep evaluation. Further, the findings suggest using a combination of both subjective and objective measures for accurate assessment of sleep quality in Iranian veterans with chemical injuries (i.e., multimethod approach).