Resilience and its correlates in patients with narcolepsy type 1

Alessandra D'Alterio; Marco Menchetti; Corrado Zenesini; Andrea Rossetti; Luca Vignatelli; Christian Franceschini; Giorgia Varallo; Fabio Pizza; Giuseppe Plazzi; Francesca Ingravallo

doi:10.5664/jcsm.10418

Resilience and its correlates in patients with narcolepsy type 1

J Clin Sleep Med. 2023 Apr 1;19(4):719-726. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.10418.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
² Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences (DIBINEM), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
³ IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna (ISNB), Bologna, Italy.
⁴ Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
⁵ Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

Abstract

Study objectives: This study aimed to explore resilience and its possible association with sociodemographic and clinical features in patients with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving patients with NT1 and age-/sex-matched controls (comparison group). Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected through semistructured interviews and validated questionnaires, including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-State Anxiety, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36), and the Resilience Scale (RS). Different statistical approaches were used to investigate the relationship between resilience and NT1 and associations with sociodemographic and clinical features.

Results: The participants comprised 137 patients (mean age, 38.0 years; 52.6% female) and 149 controls (39.6 years; 55.7% female). Compared with controls, patients had a significantly lower (122.6 vs 135.5) mean RS score and a 2-fold risk of having low/mild-range resilience (adjusted odds ratio = 1.99, 95% confidence interval 1.13-3.52). Patients with high resilience had sociodemographic and narcolepsy characteristics similar to patients with low resilience, but they reported anxiety and depressive symptomatology less frequently (4.2% vs 55.8% and 58.3%, respectively), and their SF-36 scores were comparable to those of the comparison group. In patients, RS score was strongly associated with STAI-State Anxiety and BDI (rho = -0.57 and -0.56, respectively) and weakly with ESS (rho = -20) scores.

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that resilience may play a key role in patients' adaptation to NT1. Furthermore, this study supports interventions aimed at increasing patients' resilience and provides a base for further studies, preferably longitudinal and including objective measures, directed toward understanding the relationship between resilience, depression, and quality of life in patients with narcolepsy.

Citation: D'Alterio A, Menchetti M, Zenesini C, et al. Resilience and its correlates in patients with narcolepsy type 1. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(4):719-726.

Keywords: adaptation; anxiety; cataplexy; depression; narcolepsy; quality of life; resilience; sleepiness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Anxiety
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Narcolepsy* / complications
Quality of Life*
Surveys and Questionnaires