COSI-SD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
“Observational cross-sectional study on interoceptive deficits in individuals with sleep disorders (non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias, rapid-eye movement sleep disorder (RBD) and narcolepsy)”
IRAS ID
336185
Contact name
Ivana Rosenzweig
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
It has been long recognised that poor sleep may lead to deficits in interoception with significant impact on quality of life and increased links to other major neurologic and psychiatric disorders. Thus it would be important to discern the markers of interoceptive deficits in order to enable more tailored based approach to treating both sleep and neuropsychiatric disorders. Interoception refers to the process by which the nervous system senses, interprets, and integrates signals originating from the body, providing a moment-by-moment mapping of the body’s internal landscape across conscious and unconscious levels. Interoception is considered to play a prominent role in physical and mental health and disease processes.
Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest on the topic of interoception due in part to findings highlighting its integral role in emotional experience, self-regulation, decision making, and consciousness. Clinically, an increased attentional focus on physical sensations has commonly been associated with anxiety, hypervigilance, somatization and hypochondriasis (Paulus and Stein, 2006). This style of interoceptive bodily awareness is viewed as maladaptive and potentially unhealthy. Overall, as interoception is important for homeostasis, emotional regulation, arousal, and sleep regulation, it likely represents an impactful but under-recognized contributor to sleep disturbances. Therefore, greater insight into interoceptive deficits may represent an important frontier for research that could enhance diagnosis, treatment, and theoretical models.
The overarching aim of the current study is to investigate and characterise dysfunction of interoceptive deficits in sleep disorders associated with multiple psychiatric symptoms. The primary objective of the study is to investigate and characterise multiple dimensions of interoceptive deficits across three groups of sleep disorders; non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias, rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and narcolepsy. The secondary objective is to use scientifically validated scales of to characterise the link between interoceptive deficits and a number of other relevant dimensions such as anxiety , depression and emotion regulation between the patient groups. In all three chronic sleep disorders, altered interpretation of autonomic signals may disrupt regulation of arousal, affect, motor control and normal perceptual boundaries.
Participants will be recruited from the Sleep Disorders Centre , Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust(20 per disorder group). They will be asked to complete the self-report questionnaires during their routine sleep clinic appointments after having consented to do so with no follow-up assessments. The overall duration of the study is 12 months.
The findings may illuminate the far-reaching implications of disrupted body-brain communication for mental health and well-being which may lead to more effective treatment strategies and more meaningful clinical care in the future
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/NW/0097
Date of REC Opinion
26 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion