Changes in sleep performance and chronotype behaviour after vestibular rehabilitation in unilateral vestibular hypofunction.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate changes in sleep parameters and self-perceived sleep quality in unilateral vestibular hypofunction participants after vestibular rehabilitation.

Method: Forty-six unilateral vestibular hypofunction participants (before and after vestibular rehabilitation) along with a control group of 60 healthy patients underwent otoneurological examination, a one-week actigraphy sleep analysis and a series of self-report and performance measures.

Results: After vestibular rehabilitation, unilateral vestibular hypofunction participants showed a significant score decrease in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a self-rated reliable questionnaire depicting sleep quality during the last month, as well as a reduction in sleep onset latency and an increase in total sleep time, indicating an objective improvement in sleep quality as measured by actigraphy analysis. However, after vestibular rehabilitation, unilateral vestibular hypofunction participants still showed statistically significant differences with respect to the control group in both self-rated and objective measurements of sleep quality.

Conclusion: Vestibular rehabilitation may impact on sleep performance and chronotype behaviour, possibly by opposing long-term structural changes along neural pathways entangled in sleep activity because of the deafferentation of the vestibular nuclei.