Sleep and Wellbeing Study

January 10, 2025 updated by: University of Oxford

Relationship Between Sleep the First Night and Week After Trauma and Subsequent Intrusive Memories: a Prospective Study From the Emergency Department

Most people will experience a psychologically traumatic event, such as a life-threatening accident, at some point in their life. In the initial days after such an event, it is common to be haunted by intrusive memories: image-based memories of the event that spring to mind unbidden. Intrusive memories can be distressing in their own right, but are also a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Sleep is important for many functions involved in how people perceive, respond to and remember events, including stressful/traumatic events. Studies with patients who have experienced traumatic events indicate that sleep disturbances in the first weeks post-trauma are associated with later PTSD symptoms. However, in a previous study with healthy volunteers exposed to experimental trauma (film footage), those who were sleep-deprived in the first night, compared to those who slept, had fewer intrusive memories in the following week. This raises the question of how sleep in the first night, but also the first week, after real-life trauma is related to subsequent intrusive memories and PTSD symptoms.

The current study is an observational study of patients recruited from a hospital emergency department after a traumatic event. After completing brief baseline questionnaires in the emergency department, participants will be asked to fill in a daily diary of their sleep and intrusive memories over the following week. Post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety and depression will be assessed by post/online at one week and two months. Participants will be telephoned after two months to complete an interview to assess PTSD symptoms and an optional feedback interview.

This clinical study will be the first to assess the relationship between sleep in the first night and week, and intrusive memories and mental wellbeing after real-life trauma. Findings may have implications for developing simple sleep-based preventive treatments after trauma in the future.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Oxfordshire
      • Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
        • Emergency Department, John Radcliffe Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients presenting to the John Radcliffe Hospital Emergency Department after a traumatic event.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 18 or over
  • Experienced or witnessed a traumatic event (i.e. one in which they were exposed to death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence)
  • Present to the emergency department on the same day as the traumatic event
  • Report memory of the event
  • Fluent in written and spoken English
  • Alert and orientated, Glasgow Coma Scale score (GCS) = 15
  • Willing and able to give informed consent and complete study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Loss of consciousness
  • Current intoxication
  • History of severe mental illness
  • Current substance abuse or neurological condition
  • Currently suicidal

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Daily diary of sleep and intrusive memories
Time Frame: 1 week
1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Actigraphy - to assess sleep timing and duration
Time Frame: 1 week
1 week
Impact of Event Scale-Revised (total score and subscales scores) - to assess post-trauma distress
Time Frame: At 1 week and 2 months
At 1 week and 2 months
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Time Frame: At 1 week and 2 months
At 1 week and 2 months
Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale
Time Frame: At 2 months
At 2 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Feedback questionnaire
Time Frame: At 2 months
At 2 months
Optional feedback interview
Time Frame: After 2 months
After 2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 25, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2017

First Posted (Estimated)

January 6, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 10, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 16/EM/0326
  • 195832 (Other Identifier: IRAS)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

It is planned to make an anonymised database available via the Open Science Framework

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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