Biomedical subjects

TH Monk

Publications and source records attributed to TH Monk.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Shiftwork as a Risk Factor for Depression: A Pilot Study.

This study explored the link between exposure to shiftwork and the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) during and after the shiftwork experience. A geographically based random telephoning strategy was used to identify 98 current and former shift workers (31 women, 67 men, 40-65 years old, mean age 55.2 years). Each subject was then given, by telephone, two standardized psychiatric assessment instruments: the SCID to determine lifetime incidence of MDD; and the CES-D to evaluate current depressive symptoms. A modified version of the Standard Shiftwork Index (SSI) was also administered. In addition to confirming previous findings regarding the detrimental effects of shiftwork on sleep and social/domestic factors, there was an unexpectedly high prevalence of MDD identified, occurring during or after shiftwork, with a higher rate for women than for men. The study also provided suggestive evidence that increasing exposure to shiftwork (up to 20 years) was associated with an increased lifetime risk of MDD.

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PubMed1994

The Pittsburgh Sleep Diary.

Increasingly, there is a need in both research and clinical practice to document and quantify sleep and waking behaviors in a comprehensive manner. The Pittsburgh Sleep Diary (PghSD) is an instrument with separate components to be completed at bedtime and waketime. Bedtime components relate to the events of the day preceding the sleep, waketime components to the sleep period just completed. Two-week PghSD data is presented from 234 different subjects, comprising 96 healthy young middle-aged controls, 37 older men, 44 older women, 29 young adult controls and 28 sleep disorders patients in order to demonstrate the usefulness, validity and reliability of various measures from the instrument. Comparisons are made with polysomnographic and actigraphic sleep measures, as well as personality and circadian type questionnaires. The instrument was shown to have sensitivity in detecting differences due to weekends, age, gender, personality and circadian type, and validity in agreeing with actigraphic estimates of sleep timing and quality. Over a 12-31 month delay, PghSD measures of both sleep timing and sleep quality showed correlations between 0.56 and 0.81 (n = 39, P < 0.001).

Journal Article↗

PubMed1993

Symposium: Normal and abnormal REM sleep regulation: REM sleep in successful, usual, and pathological aging: the Pittsburgh experience 1980-1993.

Successful psychological and physical adaptation in late life correlates with preservation of sleep quality and physiological integrity of nocturnal EEG sleep measures. Failure to adapt is associated with loss of sleep continuity, alterations in the temporal distribution of delta wave activity, and by either a relative increase in REM sleep (e.g. in mood disorders) or a decrease in REM sleep (e.g. neurodegenerative disorders). Maintenance of sleep (particularly REM sleep) into late life may not be just a correlate, but also possibly a mechanism, of successful aging and thus necessary to the long-term maintenance of vitality and engagement in life.

Journal Article↗