This study aims to assess the impact of blindness on sleep and dreaming processes and the relationship with spatial perceptual performance, examining the link with clinical and psychological indices, neurobiological features, and electrophysiological measures.
Eligibility
Sex
ALL
Min age
18 Years
Max age
85 Years
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Inclusion Criteria:
* Signature of the informed consent;
* The participating subjects may have typical or atypical development (i.e., group with visual disability). In the case of visual impairment, the disability should be congenital (from birth) or late onset. Furthermore, the following requirements must be met: subjects with visual disabilities must be classified according to current diagnostic rules, with visual problems present from birth or occurring later, with residual vision lower than 1.3 LogMAR;
* Age range required is ≥ 18 years old and ≤ 85 years old;
* Any Gender;
* Any ethnicity, as long as a good knowledge of the Italian language.
Exclusion Criteria:
* Participant with a disability/condition/comorbidity that prevents participation and/or does not guarantee the safety of the patient during the execution of the tests and/or does not guarantee the quality/reliability of the data:
* Tactile and/or acoustic hypersensitivity (specifically, the tolerance of the equipment will be assessed);
* Deafness;
* Taking drugs and neuroactive substances and having taken them in the last six months;
* Comorbidity with another clinically significant and uncontrolled pathology;
* Being affected, to the best of their knowledge, by pathologies of the central nervous system, and having suffered from epileptic episodes, even minor ones, and convulsive crises in general;
* Being affected, to the best of their knowledge, by cardio-respiratory pathologies that can influence the macro and microstructure of sleep.
* Lack of signature of consent or incomplete consent to acknowledge the incompatibilities for participation in the study;
* To the best of their knowledge, IQ values lower than the threshold limit of normality according to one of the recognized international scales.
* Pregnant women
Primary outcome measure(s)
Sleep macrostructure — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Percentage of sleep stages and spectrogram
Sleep microstructure — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Analysis of sleep spindles
Sleep microstructure — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Analysis of slow waves
Sleep quality - PSQI — Through study completion, an average of 12 months Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The seven component scores are then summed to yield a global PSQI score, which has a range of 0-21; higher scores indicate worse sleep quality.
Sleep Quality - questionnaire to predict N24HSWD — Through study completion, an average of 12 months Pre-Screening questionnaire to predict Non-24-hours sleep-wake disorders. The questionnaire assesses sleep-wake patterns, focusing on irregularities such as difficulty maintaining a regular sleep schedule and daytime dysfunction. It includes a set of eight key questions.
The scoring system can yield final values greater than or less than zero:
1. Values greater than zero suggest that the patient should be evaluated for N24HSWD.
2. Values less than zero indicate the need for assessment for other sleep disorders.
This tool serves as an initial filter, guiding whether further diagnostic measures, like actigraphy or melatonin rhythm analysis, are necessary
Sleep quality - MEQ — Through study completion, an average of 12 months Morningness -Eveningness Questionnaire. It is a Self-reported assessment of morningness and eveningness preferences with a 19 multiple choice items (4-5 point numerical scale). The sum gives a score ranging from 16 to 86; scores of 41 and below indicate "evening types", scores of 59 and above indicate "morning types", scores between 42-58 indicate "intermediate types".
Circadian shift — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Melatonin sample ELISA protocol
Circadian shift — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Actigraphy measures
Spatial perception ability — Through study completion, an average of 12 months Spatial and temporal bisection
Spatial memory ability — Through study completion, an average of 12 months Audiocorsi
Dream content evaluation - DRFS — Through study completion, an average of 12 months The Dream Recall Frequency Scale (DRFS) is a useful tool for assessing how often individuals remember their dreams. This scale can help distinguish between high dreamers (those who frequently recall dreams) and low dreamers (those who rarely remember dreams). The scale typically ranges from 0 to 5, where a higher value indicates more frequent recall of dreams.
Dream content evaluation - VDAS — Through study completion, an average of 12 months The Van Dream Anxiety Scale (VDAS) is a tool used to assess the severity of nightmares and dream anxiety. The VDAS consists of a set of items that measure the frequency, intensity, and emotional impact of nightmares, as well as their interference with daily functioning. The scale typically provides a range of scores from 0 to 68, where. Higher scores indicate greater severity of nightmares and dream-related anxiety.
Dream content evaluation — Through study completion, an average of 18 months Dream Diary
Trial sites (1)
Facility
City
Region
Status
U.O. Clinica Neurologica Ambul. disturbi del sonno ed epilessia; IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino
Genova
Italy
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This page summarises publicly available registry data for informational purposes — not medical advice. Eligibility is determined by each study team; patients should discuss participation with their clinician.
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