[Quality of sleep in hospitalized psychiatric patients].

To determine the global sleep quality and its components in patients of the Psychiatric Hospital of Maracaibo we performed a cross-sectional descriptive study based on a personal survey and the application of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in 57 individuals selected among all the 70 patients hospitalized in the Psychiatric Hospital of Maracaibo in the month of May of 2004. 91.22% of the patients displayed alterations of the sleep (slight 28.07%, moderate 8.77% and severe 54.38%). Several of the components of the PSQI were within acceptable ranks: sleep duration greater to 7 hours in 24 hours (47.36%); habitual efficiency of sleep: 0 points in 54.38%; whereas other components altered the global PSQI score causing that 91.22% of the people interviewed were considered "poor sleepers". These alterations were: Moderate extrinsic disturbances of the sleep observed in 50.87% of the patients, hypnotic medication taken by 84.21%, and severe diurnal dysfunction detected in 42.10% of the studied population. The main diagnostic categories on admission were: Schizophrenia 21 patients, classified as follows: Residual Schizophrenia, 10 patients; Paranoid Schizophrenia, 10 patients; Undifferentiated Schizophrenia, 1 patient. Of the 21 schizophrenic patients only 1 was diagnosed as a "good sleeper"; 11 patients with Bipolar I Disorders, whose most recent episode was mania with Psychotic symptoms, 4 were described as "good sleepers", and 7 as "poor sleepers". Psychotic alterations induced by alcohol with delirious ideas: 6 patients, all "poor sleepers". Three ranks of ages were distinguished that included most of the population studied: the patients 34 to 39 years of age (12) were "poor sleepers"; of those aged 28 to 33 years (11) only 1 patient was described as "good sleeper", and of those 22 to 27 years of age (11) only 2 patients were described as "good sleepers". In conclusion, an association between mental disease and the deterioration of the quality of the sleep was detected, being the latency of the sleep and the use of hypnotic medication the main components of this impairment.