Steroids for MS cause depression-like sleep changes

The journal "Psychoneuroendocrinology" (love that title!) has presented a study of sleep changes induced by steroid treatment programs for MS exacerbations. The research team enrolled 9 MS subjects with exacerbations into a sleep lab for overnight testing. They measured a variety of sleep characteristics at three different time points: prior to treatment and at days 2 and 10 of the course of steroids. A couple of differences were noted prior to treatment between the MS subjects and a group of healthy controls, but several more changes were seen at day 10, indicating that prolonged courses of steroid treatment are particularly likely to affect sleep.

Interestingly, some of the sleep pattern changes seen in the MS subjects had previously been observed in people suffering from depression. Although none of the nine MS subjects exhibited depressive symptoms during the study, two did go on to develop depression within a few weeks of the treatment program. The authors suggest that unraveling the mechanisms responsible for this effect of steroids on sleep may help explain why people with MS are at increased risk of depression.