Sleep-wake monitoring in women suffering from anorexia nervosa

There is evidence that some Anorexia Nervosa (AN) patients have sleep abnormalities. No studies of their sleep-wake cycles in a natural environment have yet been reported. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an objective and subjective sleep-wake cycle of AN patients compared to a healthy age-equated control group (CON). Twenty-one AN female and sixteen CON female subjects were recruited. Sleep-wake patterns were monitored using ambulatory monitoring mini-actigraphs for one week. Each subject completed self-report questionnaires. The self-report questionnaires revealed significantly more sleep disturbances in AN than CON, whereas the ambulatory sleep data revealed no significant differences between the two groups in sleep-wake cycle.