Objectives: To assess the pattern of sleep and the correlation with socio demographic parameters in patients with depressive disorder.

Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study.

Study Setting and Duration: A psychiatric consultation clinic in Karachi from January 2015 till December 2019.

Methodology: Patients between ages of 18 and 60 years, irrespective of gender were included in the study. Patients with florid psychotic symptoms, dementia and chronic debilitating medical illness such as chronic renal or liver failure were excluded. Pattern of sleep was categorized as patients with normal sleep (sound sleep of 7-9 hours), insomnia and hypersomnia. Diagnosis of Insomnia and hypersomnia was made according to ICD – criteria.

Results: The mean age of patients was 30.89 (10.256) years. Age was significantly associated with the pattern of sleep among depressed patients. Younger patients between the ages of 18-35 years more frequently suffered from insomnia while the older patients (35-65 years) were more frequently experiencing hypersomnia (p=0.01). The majority of the patients who were either separated or divorced experienced hypersomnia, 15 (71.4%) however, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.582). The most common psychiatric comorbidity among patients was obsession compulsion disorder (OCD) with a frequency of 225 (39.4%) followed by anxiety disorders; 100 (17.5%).

Conclusion: Our study indicates that sleep patterns are significantly challenged in depression patients. The younger population was more prone towards insomnia while the older patients more frequently had hypersomnia. Further large scale studies are needed to explore the risk factors associated with the sleep disturbance and the role normal sleep patterns play in recovery of depressed patients.

Keywords: Psychiatry, Depression, Insomnia, Hypersomnia, Dementia