Peter Geisler

Publications (65) View all

• Article: Regensburg Insomnia Scale (RIS): a new short rating scale for the assessment of psychological symptoms and sleep in insomnia; Study design: development and validation of a new short self-rating scale in a sample of 218 patients suffering from insomnia and 94 healthy controls.

  Tatjana Crönlein, Berthold Langguth, Roland Popp, Helmut Lukesch, Christoph Pieh, Göran Hajak, Peter Geisler
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The Regensburg Insomnia Scale (RIS) is a new self-rating scale to assess cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of psychophysiological insomnia (PI) with only ten items. A specific purpose of the new scale is the evaluation of the outcome of insomnia- specific cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-I). METHODS: Internal consistency of the RIS has been validated in 218 patients with PI. For determining sensitivity and specificity, this sample has been compared to 94 healthy controls. Sensitivity to change and pre-post cross-validation with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) has been tested in a separate sample of 38 patients with PI undergoing CBT-I. RESULTS: RIS distinguishes well between controls and patients with PI. Internal consistency was within a good range (Cronbach alpha = .890). RIS was sensitive for detecting improvements after CBT-I in sleep parameters and target symptoms such as sleep-related thinking. CONCLUSION: The RIS is a valid and feasible instrument for assessing psychological PI-symptoms and sleep parameters.
  Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 04/2013; 11(1):65. · 2.11 Impact Factor
• Article: Narcolepsy and pregnancy: a retrospective European evaluation of 249 pregnancies.

  Eszter Maurovich-Horvat, David Kemlink, Birgit Högl, Birgit Frauscher, Laura Ehrmann, Peter Geisler, Katharina Ettenhuber, Geert Mayer, Rosa Peraita-Adrados, Elena Calvo, [......], Johannes Mathis, Aleksandra Wierzbicka, Francisco J Puertas, Pierre A Beitinger, Isabelle Arnulf, Renata L Riha, Maria Tormášiová, Jana Slonková, Sona Nevšímalová, Karel Sonka
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  ABSTRACT: In a retrospective cohort study undertaken in 12 European countries, 249 female narcoleptic patients with cataplexy (n = 216) and without cataplexy (n = 33) completed a self-administrated questionnaire regarding pregnancy and childbirth. The cohort was divided further into patients whose symptoms of narcolepsy started before or during pregnancy (308 pregnancies) and those in whom the first symptoms of narcolepsy appeared after delivery (106 pregnancies). Patients with narcolepsy during pregnancy were older during their first pregnancy (P < 0.001) and had a higher body mass index (BMI) prior to pregnancy (P < 0.01). Weight gain during pregnancy was higher in narcoleptic patients with cataplexy (P < 0.01). More patients with narcolepsy-cataplexy during pregnancy had impaired glucose metabolism and anaemia. Three patients experienced cataplexy during delivery. The rate of caesarean sections was higher in the narcolepsy-cataplexy group compared to the narcolepsy group (P < 0.05). The mean birth weight and gestational age of neonates were within the normal range and did not differ across groups. Neonatal care was affected adversely by symptoms of narcolepsy in 60.1% of those with narcolepsy during pregnancy. This study reports more obstetric complications in patients with narcolepsy-cataplexy during pregnancy; however, these were not severe. This group also had a higher BMI and higher incidence of impaired glucose metabolism during pregnancy. Caesarian section was conducted more frequently in narcolepsy-cataplexy patients, despite cataplexy being a rare event during delivery. Furthermore, symptoms of narcolepsy may render care of the infant more difficult.
  Journal of Sleep Research 04/2013; · 3.16 Impact Factor
• Article: The assessment of vigilance: normative data on the Siesta sustained attention test.

  Cornelia Sauter, Heidi Danker-Hopfe, Erna Loretz, Josef Zeitlhofer, Peter Geisler, Roland Popp
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  ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: In several modern society duties individuals have to maintain their attention or vigilance over prolonged periods of time, even if the monitoring task is monotonous. The aim of our study was to obtain reference data on the 60-minute monotonous Siesta sustained attention test. METHODS: Normative data were gathered in an age-stratified sample of 234 healthy participants (118 men; 116 women) between the ages of 20 and 79years. The impact of age, gender, time of day, and time on task during performance was analyzed. RESULTS: At least 20 participants from each age group and gender group were tested either in the morning or in the afternoon. The sample sizes were only smaller in the age group of 70 to 79years. There was a notable age effect on all performance measures, with an increase in reaction times and false response rates from the youngest to the oldest group as well as a decrease in correct reactions with increasing age. Statistical analysis revealed no differences in speed and accuracy measures between men and women participants. There was no notable time-of-day effect but a clear impact of time-on-task speed and of correct reactions during the course of the test. The vigilance decrement had already occurred during the first half of the test. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a normative database of performance parameters for different age groups in healthy adult participants. As sustained attention is sensitive to sleep loss and nonrestorative sleep, our data can be used as a reference for performance-based assessment of daytime sleepiness in participants with hypersomnia.
  Sleep Medicine 03/2013; · 3.40 Impact Factor
• Article: Clinical, polysomnographic and genome-wide association analyses of narcolepsy with cataplexy: a European Narcolepsy Network study.

  Gianina Luca, José Haba-Rubio, Yves Dauvilliers, Gert-Jan Lammers, Sebastiaan Overeem, Claire E Donjacour, Geert Mayer, Sirous Javidi, Alex Iranzo, Joan Santamaria, [......], Raphael Heinzer, Poul Jennum, Stine Knudsen, Peter Geisler, Aleksandra Wierzbicka, Eva Feketeova, Corinne Pfister, Ramin Khatami, Christian Baumann, Mehdi Tafti
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and PSG characteristics of narcolepsy with cataplexy and their genetic predisposition by using the retrospective patient database of the European Narcolepsy Network (EU-NN). We have analysed retrospective data of 1099 patients with narcolepsy diagnosed according to International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2. Demographic and clinical characteristics, polysomnography and multiple sleep latency test data, hypocretin-1 levels, and genome-wide genotypes were available. We found a significantly lower age at sleepiness onset (men versus women: 23.74 ± 12.43 versus 21.49 ± 11.83, P = 0.003) and longer diagnostic delay in women (men versus women: 13.82 ± 13.79 versus 15.62 ± 14.94, P = 0.044). The mean diagnostic delay was 14.63 ± 14.31 years, and longer delay was associated with higher body mass index. The best predictors of short diagnostic delay were young age at diagnosis, cataplexy as the first symptom and higher frequency of cataplexy attacks. The mean multiple sleep latency negatively correlated with Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and with the number of sleep-onset rapid eye movement periods (SOREMPs), but none of the polysomnographic variables was associated with subjective or objective measures of sleepiness. Variant rs2859998 in UBXN2B gene showed a strong association (P = 1.28E-07) with the age at onset of excessive daytime sleepiness, and rs12425451 near the transcription factor TEAD4 (P = 1.97E-07) with the age at onset of cataplexy. Altogether, our results indicate that the diagnostic delay remains extremely long, age and gender substantially affect symptoms, and that a genetic predisposition affects the age at onset of symptoms.
  Journal of Sleep Research 03/2013; · 3.16 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Hedwig Eisenbarth

  Article: Shortened night sleep impairs facial responsiveness to emotional stimuli.

  Johanna F A Schwarz, Roland Popp, Jessica Haas, Jürgen Zulley, Peter Geisler, Georg W Alpers, Michael Osterheider, Hedwig Eisenbarth
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  ABSTRACT: Sleep deprivation deteriorates mood, impairs the recognition of facial expressions, and affects the ability to regulate emotions. The present study investigated the effect of partial sleep deprivation on facial responses to emotional stimuli. Thirty-three healthy undergraduates were tested twice: after a night with (i) 8hours and (ii) 4hours sleep. Self-reported sleepiness and sustained attention (Psychomotor vigilance task) were assessed. Emotional reactivity was measured with facial Electromyogram (EMG) while participants were asked to respond with either compatible or incompatible facial muscles to emotional stimuli in order to study whether partial sleep deprivation caused slower reactions mainly in response to incompatible stimuli (due to an additional effort to suppress the compatible reaction caused by decreased inhibitory control) or in response to both compatible and incompatible stimuli. Self-reported sleepiness and reaction times in a sustained attention task significantly increased after one night of partial sleep deprivation. Facial reactions to emotional stimuli were decelerated. No significant interaction between sleep restriction and compatibility of the muscle to the picture valence could be observed. Hence, volitional facial reactions in response to emotional stimuli were slower after one night of reduced sleep, but affective inhibitory control was not significantly impaired. However, slowed facial responding to emotional stimuli may affect social interaction after sleep restriction.
  Biological psychology 02/2013; · 4.36 Impact Factor