CLINICAL ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF A SLEEP DISORDER RELATED TO A SUSPECTED NEUROTOXIN: A FIELD STUDY ON MICHIGAN RESIDENTS EXPOSED TO PBB.
Item
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Title
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CLINICAL ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF A SLEEP DISORDER RELATED TO A SUSPECTED NEUROTOXIN: A FIELD STUDY ON MICHIGAN RESIDENTS EXPOSED TO PBB.
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Identifier
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AAI8023737
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identifier
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8023737
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Creator
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SUMMERS, DAVID MERRILL.
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Contributor
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Sidney P. Diamond
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Date
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1980
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Environmental Sciences
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Abstract
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The sleep EEGs of twelve adult Michigan residents, who had been exposed to polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and who complained of hypersomnia, were recorded in order to determine objectively the character and extent of the reported sleep disturbance. In addition to this electrophysiological study, neuropsychological tests were administered to each of the subjects, and their serum PBB levels were measured.;Analysis of the sleep data revealed a greater number of awakenings, an increase in eye movement density of REM sleep, and a decrease in stage 4 sleep as compared to a normal population of the same age. The older subjects also showed a decrease in the amount of stage 3 sleep. The patterns of sleep were not consistent with the changes seen in pathological increases or decreases in the amount of sleep. To reconcile the observed sleep changes of the subjects with their subjective reports of hypersomnia, it is hypothesized that increased number of awakenings and decreased stage 4 may contribute to an inferior quality of sleep and to an increased time taken to complete a sleep cycle. This in turn might produce an increase in the time spent sleeping in order to achieve the presumed restorative effects of sleep.;The levels of PBB were found to correlate with the amount of stage 0, the average duration of an awakening, the duration of first REM period, and the eye movement density in that period. A significant negative correlation was found between PBB levels and total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, the number of slow wave sleep periods and the number of sleep cycles. A comparison of sleep profiles of this group with other classes of pathological sleep syndromes suggested closest resemblance to the changes seen in aging.;The negative correlation of performance on the Mattis-Kovner Memory Recognition Test and the Associate Learning Test with measurements of wakefulness, and the results of the Benton Revised Visual Retention Test suggest that subjects may have some degree of impairment of cognitive functioning similar to that seen in aging.;Since this study was not designed to determine the status of PBB as a neurotoxin, no statement can be made about its causal relation to the sleep disturbances observed in this subject population. However, the investigation does establish the value of sleep analysis as an objective technique in environmental medicine for characterizing sleep complaints and for recognizing a low degree of diffuse organic brain dysfunction. Furthermore, the correlations found between serum levels of PBB and changes in sleep patterns suggest that if significant sleep complaints persist in the exposed population, a controlled study should be done designed to evaluate a causal connection between PBB and central nervous system changes.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Biomedical Sciences
