Abstracts Category : Other

Effects of Sleep Disturbance on Cognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorder Type 1| A Correlational Study Design

by M Hafeez Ullah

It was not known if and to what extent there was a relationship exists between an affirmative presence of insomnia and less need for sleep to cognitive impairments in bipolar disorder type 1 patient population. Lacanian topology and memory consolidation theory provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation for this quantitative correlational study design to determine whether a correlation exists between impaired sleep and cognitive impairments in BP-1 patients. This study included a convenience sample of 286 BP-1 patients collected from the Genetics of Bipolar Disorder in Latino population study. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Change in Symptomology was used to measure presence of insomnia and decrease need for sleep, and the South Texas Assessment of Neurocognition was used to measure cognitive functioning related to verbal memory, spatial memory, attention, executive function, speed of processing and inhibition. Spearmans rank order correlation analysis was conducted to answer the first and second research questions, and multiple regression to answer the third research question. The results of the study showed significant inverse correlations between insomnia, speed of processing (<i>rs</i> = -.129; <i>p</i> = .029), executive functioning (<i>rs</i> = -.116; <i>p</i> = .05), decreased need for sleep and speed of processing (<i>rs </i> = -.118; <i>p</i> = .046). Moreover, it revealed that insomnia and decreased need for sleep as a set were significant predictors for the speed of processing, <i>F</i> (2, 283) = 3.08, <i> p</i> = .048. The findings of this study added to the literature on how sleep disturbances effects cognitive functioning in BP-1 patients and resulted in several implications for clinicians and researchers.