A longitudinal study of insomnia and other sleep complaints in adolescents with and without alcohol use disorders.
BACKGROUND
Sleep disturbances are both common and well-characterized in adults with alcohol use disorders (AUDs), but have received little study in adolescents with AUDs. Furthermore, a handful of studies suggest that sleep complaints are a risk factor for AUDs. However, no published studies have yet examined the longitudinal course of sleep complaints in adolescents with AUDs; in particular, it remains unclear how persistent AUD-associated sleep complaints are in this age group, and what types of sleep complaints are most relevant to alcohol-use symptoms. We investigated these questions in a 5-year longitudinal study of adolescents with and without AUDs at baseline.


METHODS
Participants were 696 adolescents (age 12 to 19) from a longitudinal study at the Pittsburgh Adolescent Alcohol Research Center. At baseline, 347 participants had a current AUD (AUD+), while 349 had no current or past AUD (AUD-). We examined sleep and alcohol involvement at baseline as well as 1-, 3-, and 5-year follow-up visits. Sleep variables included self-reported insomnia and hypersomnia, as well as variability in weekday-weekend sleep duration, all at baseline. Covariates included sex, age, current alcohol symptoms, and depression severity.


RESULTS
The AUD+ group reported more overall sleep disturbance at baseline, including greater insomnia and hypersomnia complaints, and greater variability in weekday-weekend sleep duration. Group differences in insomnia and hypersomnia complaints persisted to the 5- and 3-year follow-ups, respectively. In the AUD- group, greater insomnia complaints at baseline predicted an increase in alcohol symptoms at the 1-year follow-up, while greater variability in sleep duration at baseline predicted an increase in alcohol symptoms at the 3- and 5-year follow-ups.


CONCLUSIONS
These results complement previous findings in other samples, indicating that insomnia and other sleep problems are a chronic predicament for adolescents with AUDs. The findings also suggest that sleep disturbances may place adolescents without AUDs at an elevated risk of developing alcohol problems.
['Hasler|Brant P|BP|', 'Martin|Christopher S|CS|', 'Wood|D Scott|DS|', 'Rosario|Bedda|B|', 'Clark|Duncan B|DB|']
D000293:Adolescent D000294:Adolescent Behavior D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders D016022:Case-Control Studies D002648:Child D003863:Depression D018450:Disease Progression D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales D012307:Risk Factors D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders D055815:Young Adult
Sleep Adolescents Alcohol Alcohol Use Disorders