Introduction: Poor sleep quality has been reported to be commonly seen among heroin addicts. Although methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) could help patients in recovery from heroin dependence, the majority of MMT patients remained suffering from sleep disturbances. However, studies in this field have received little attention. Thus, this study aims to investigate the distributions of sleep disturbances and their associations with psychological distresses and quality of life among MMT patients, compared with former heroin addicts without MMT. Methods: The study cohort included 82 MMT patients. Besides, 88 previous heroin addicts not receiving MMT were collected for comparison. All subjects received overnight ECG monitoring at home for the assessment of cardiopulmonary coupling during sleep. Patients filled out valid questionnaires including the Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and WHO Quality of Life-Brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) at next morning. Specific sleep disorders and comorbid psychiatric disorders were assessed by clinical interview. Results: More than two thirds (67.9%) of MMT patients suffered from poor sleep quality and one forth (25.6%) of them reported excessive daytime sleepiness. Compared to patients not receiving MMT, MMT patients were more likely to have poor sleep quality indicated by higher mean scores in CPSQI, ESS and ISI. MMT patients reported poorer quality of life. There were no significant differences in the distribution of specific sleep disorders and cardiopulmonary coupling during sleep between former heroin addicts with and without MMT. Conclusion: Our study indicated that MMT patients were more likely to suffer from sleep disturbances than previous heroin addicts not receiving MMT. Furthermore, poor sleep quality among MMT patients could lead to poor quality of life. The associations between sleep disturbances and psychiatric co-morbidities were also demonstrated among this specific population.
