{"title":"The Effect of Sleep Disturbances on Major Depressive Disorder.","authors":"Wilfred R Pigeon","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sleep disturbances not only commonly occur in major depressive disorder, but constitute one of the symptom criteria. Importantly, there is growing inference that sleep disturbances may be more than a symptomatic byproduct of depression; poor sleep may play a role in the development or clinical course of depression, or both. This article reviews the prevalence of the two major classes of sleep disorders, the insomnias and the sleep-disordered breathing disorders, as they pertain to depression. Beyond prevalence, the empirical evidence reviewed suggests that insomnia is a risk factor for depression and that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is highly associated with depression. Preliminary evidence indicates that OSA may also be a risk factor for this disorder. The implications of these findings for the treatment of sleep disturbances either prior to or in the context of depression are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":91066,"journal":{"name":"Depression, mind and body","volume":"4 3","pages":"102-110"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4564254/pdf/nihms173462.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34171450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}