Sleep and Emotional Reactivity in Alcohol Use Disorder

Status unconfirmed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

In brief

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a multifaceted, chronic relapsing disorder suffered by millions of men and women in the United States. AUD is associated with disrupted sleep continuity and architecture, which impact health-related quality of life, and contribute to relapse. However, many alcohol-sleep interactions and their underlying mechanisms remain unclear, especially those involving AUD and chronic sleep problems. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is altered long into abstinence, with excess duration and intensity of REM sleep, which is a predictor of relapse. Emotion deficits, including affective flattening and mesocorticolimbic hypo-responsiveness to emotional stimuli, are also consistent findings in AUD and predictors of relapse. Here, our investigators bring these two components together, building on an emerging literature showing that REM sleep is important for neural emotion regulation, calibrating emotions to promote next-day adaptive emotional functioning. Our investigators propose that the REM sleep-emotion pathway is dysfunctional in AUD, contributing to the deficits in emotion regulation in AUD shown by us and others, which could then lead to increased craving and relapse. Our investigators study male and female AUD patients compared to age- and gender-matched healthy controls, using 2 within-subject sleep conditions: uninterrupted sleep; selective REM sleep reduction, followed by functional neuroimaging with emotion reactivity and regulation tasks the following morning. Our investigators aim to determine specific effects of experimental REM sleep reduction on next-day neural emotional reactivity in AUD compared to healthy controls and compared to a night of uninterrupted sleep

Key facts

Study ID: NCT04979507
Run by: SRI International
People needed: 100
Starts: 2021-06-09
Expected to finish: 2023-05-05
Last updated by the study team: 2021-07-28

Who can join

Age: 25 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Inclusion criteria:
Age 25-65 years, with age range matching our past sleep and MRI protocols in AUD; encompassing the young-middle age range for adults, allowing at least a 5 year drinking history for AUD and outside of adolescence (younger cut-off) and before substantial age-related impact on sleep and health (older cut-off);
Male, female;
At least 8 years of education;
Meet cut-off criteria on cognitive tests (MoCA, > 23, WTAR,> 85)104,105,126
Meet clinical DSM 5 criteria for alcohol use disorder with at least a 5 year drinking history (AUD group) or not meet clinical DSM 5 criteria for any psychiatric disorder (Control group).
Be at least 6 months abstinent, up to 36 months abstinent, based on 2,13,35 showing that REM sleep excess is evident

You may not qualify if…

History of medical or neurological illness or trauma that would affect the central nervous system (e.g., stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy)
History of loss of consciousness over 30 min, compound skull fracture or clear neurological sequelae;
Greater than mild past other substance use disorder and/or current other substance use disorder not in remission (< 1 year since meeting criteria) (AUD only)
Current post-traumatic stress disorder and/or generalized anxiety disorder;
Current clinical diagnosis of moderate-severe substance use disorder (other than alcohol)
History of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder;
Current severe medical conditions (e.g. uncontrolled Diabetes, chemotherapy for cancer);
Current use of benzodiazepine, hypnotic, or anti-depressant medications;
Shift work in the six months prior to the study;
Moderate-severe sleep-disordered breathing (apnea-hypopnea index 15 or greater at the clinical PSG);
Periodic Limb Movements (PLM) Disorder with a PLM arousal index greater than 10 events per hour at the clinical PSG;
Pregnant;
Current use of drugs or alcohol at clinical visits (positive drug screen or breathalyzer > 0);
MRI contraindications, such as: irremovable metal implements, cardiac pacemakers, claustrophobia, excessive body size compromising placement in scanner;
Corrected visual acuity of less than 20/40 as assessed by the Snellen Visual Acuity chart
Age limits: 25-65 years

Where it is running

SRI International — Menlo Park, California, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.