Gender Differences in Subjective Sleep After Trauma and the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Pilot Study

Women are at higher risk than men for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following certain types of trauma such as accidents and assaults. Sleep disturbances have been implicated in the development of PTSD. Although gender differences in objective sleep soon after trauma have been found in a prior polysomnographic study, gender differences in subjective sleep soon after trauma and their associations to the development of PTSD have not been examined. This pilot study prospectively examined whether gender moderated the relationship between subjective sleep soon after trauma and PTSD symptom development. Injury patients (17 women, 28 men) completed a sleep questionnaire and a 1‐week sleep diary 2 weeks after their injuries, and the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale at 7‐weeks postinjury. Results showed that women reported greater frequency of nightmares and disruptive nocturnal behaviors (e.g., hot flashes, memories/nightmares about trauma) following the trauma and more severe PTSD symptoms at 7 weeks. Further, gender moderated the relationship between sleep‐onset latency and PTSD symptom severity, such that longer sleep‐onset latency predicted more severe PTSD symptoms in men, but less severe PTSD symptoms in women. These findings suggest that gender‐specific mechanisms may underlie the relationship between sleep impairment and the development of PTSD.