Abstract
Introduction
The Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is a behavioral attention measure widely used to describe sleep loss deficits. Although there are reported differences in PVT performance for various demographic groups, no study has examined the relationship between measures on the 10-minute PVT (PVT10) and the 3-minute PVT (PVT3) within sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) groups throughout a highly controlled sleep deprivation study.
Methods
Forty-one healthy adults (mean±SD ages, 33.9±8.9y) participated in a 13-night experiment [2 baseline nights (10h-12h time in bed, TIB) followed by 5 sleep restriction (SR1-5) nights (4h TIB), 4 recovery nights (R1-R4; 12h TIB), and 36h total sleep deprivation (TSD)]. A neurobehavioral test battery, including the PVT10 and PVT3 was completed every 2h during wakefulness. Repeated measures correlation (rmcorr) compared PVT10 and PVT3 lapses (reaction time [RT] >355ms [PVT3] and >500ms [PVT10]) and response speed (1/RT) by examining correlations by day (e.g., baseline day 2) and time point (e.g., 1000h-2000h) within sex groups (18 females), within age groups defined by a median split (median=32, range=21-49y), and within BMI groups defined by a median split (median=25, range=17-31).
Results
PVT10 and PVT3 1/RT was significantly correlated at all study days and time points excluding at baseline for the younger group and at R2 for the higher BMI group. PVT10 and PVT3 lapses showed overall lower correlations across the study relative to 1/RT. Lapses were not significantly correlated at baseline for any group, for males across recovery (R1-R4), for the high BMI group at R2-R4, for the older group at R2-R3, or for the younger group at SR5 or R3.
Conclusion
Differentiating participants based on age, sex, or BMI revealed important variation in the relationship between PVT10 and PVT3 measures across the study. Surprisingly, lapses were not significantly correlated at baseline for any demographic group or across recovery for males or the high BMI or older group. Thus, PVT10 and PVT3 lapses may be less comparable in certain populations when well-rested. These findings add to a growing literature suggesting demographic factors may be important factors to consider when evaluating the effects of sleep loss.
Support (if any)
ONR Award N00014-11-1-0361;NIH UL1TR000003;NASA NNX14AN49G and 80NSSC20K0243; NIHR01DK117488
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