Depression-Insomnia Link Reported at CureTogether
CureTogether Data Finds Link Between Self-Reported Depression and Insomnia
Patients at CureTogether (http://www.curetogether.com) who report depression are twice as likely to report insomnia than patients with no depression. This is among the first self-reported data that reproduces findings previously done in slow, expensive clinical research. It comes from an analysis of 761 patients, and is being released in conjunction with the TEDMED and BIL:PIL conferences this week – please see the chart, and details below.
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Chart: Patients with depression are more likely to report insomnia than patients with no depression. From patient self-reported data at CureTogether.
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Details of the CureTogether Finding…
Among 533 people reporting depression, 384 (72%) reported also having insomnia, and the remaining 149 specifically reported not having insomnia. Among 228 people reporting “no depression”, 77 (34%) reported having insomnia, and the remaining 151 people specifically reported not having insomnia.
This 72% vs. 34% relative risk is statistically significant, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.7 – 2.5.
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About CureTogether
CureTogether has been called “Yelp for health.” It is a collaboration of people from around the world volunteering to solve real problems in chronic conditions. Patients self-report and rate symptoms and treatments for over 380 conditions. The top conditions at CureTogether are depression, anxiety, depression, back pain, and vulvodynia. More information is at http://www.curetogether.com.
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Depression-Insomnia Research
The importance of this finding is that using only self-reported data, we have found an association between depression and insomnia that has previously been explored only in clinical studies such as the following:
1. In young adults – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18457234
2. In the general population – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19530979
3. In the elderly – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19607762
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October 31st, 2009 at 1:42 am
I have depression. And anxiety and cyclothymia. It’s hard for a thirteen year old but I manage.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I also have both severe migraines of varying types and depression which are being treated with mixed results. I do not have much insomnia but average once or twice a week.
November 16th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Seems surprising to me. When I am experiencing depression, I tend to require more sleep, not less.