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Clinical Application of Actigraphy in Psychotic Disorders: A Systematic Review

  • Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders (SJ Siegel, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Actigraphy has become increasingly recognized as a useful method to study sleep/wake patterns and activity monitoring. It is a reliable tool for confirming a diagnosis and evaluating the effect of treatments for sleep problems in patients with primary psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia. In addition, actigraphy is an objective measure that circumvents the lack of insight and often unreliable self-reporting of mental health related problems. However, the literature regarding the use of actigraphy in research and clinical applications related to severe psychiatric populations is scarce. Amalgamation of the evidence is needed to advance the use of actigraphy in psychiatry. We summarized the literature to date related to the use of actigraphy in patients with psychotic disorders, specifically schizophrenia. We conducted a systematic review of journal databases. Sixty-six studies emerged from the search of the electronic search engines, 14 were RCTs/case–control studies and 14 were review/guideline papers and others were case studies. Results of the RCT/case–control studies comparing the use of actigraphy with patients versus control were summarized. Actigraphy not only allows for the objective evaluation of sleep habits and circadian rhythm disorders, but also helps to clarify and compare sleep and activity patterns among severe psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Additionally, actigraphy data can be used as an outcome measure for changes in sleep patterns either when primary psychotic disorders are treated and/or when the sleep disturbance associated with the psychotic disorder is treated. Finally, actigraphy serves as a supplementary tool to study neuropathology of movement-related psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgments

Authors wish to acknowledge the help provided by Dr. Amir A Sepehry for his scientific comments and Anselm Doll for translation of one German paper.

Conflict of Interest

Masoud Tahmasian declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Habibolah Khazaie declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Sanobar Golshani declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Kristin T. Avis declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), PO Box 6719851151, Kermanshah, Iran

    Masoud Tahmasian, Habibolah Khazaie & Sanobar Golshani

  2. Department of Neuroradiology & Neuroimaging Center (TUM-NIC), Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Masoud Tahmasian

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), Shiraz, Iran

    Sanobar Golshani

  4. UAB Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center, Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Kristin T. Avis

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  1. Masoud Tahmasian
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  2. Habibolah Khazaie
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  4. Kristin T. Avis
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Correspondence to Masoud Tahmasian.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders

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Tahmasian, M., Khazaie, H., Golshani, S. et al. Clinical Application of Actigraphy in Psychotic Disorders: A Systematic Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep 15, 359 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0359-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0359-2

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