Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to compare the subjective sleep quality of a group of chemical warfare veterans and a sample of healthy controls.

Method: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess the sleep quality of 78 chemical warfare veterans as well as 65 controls.

Results: 73 subjects (93%) in the case group and 39 subjects (60%) in the control group were poor sleepers (p<0.001). According to the sub- scales of the questionnaire, the relative frequency of the abnormality of the subjects’ description of sleep, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction was higher in cases than controls (p<0.05). Mean interval of going to bed until falling asleep was longer in cases (46±31 min.) than in controls (32.30±32.17 min.) (p<0.01). Although the duration of effective sleep was reported to be lower in veterans (5.32±1.53 h) than controls (5.61±1.53 h), this difference was not significant statistically.