Abstract Mkid 178

Objective: To examine the possible association between insomnia and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Method: A non-clinical sample of 450 volunteer Kuwaiti male and female college students was recruited. Their ages ranged from 18 to 39 years. They completed the Arabic Scale of Insomnia (ASI) and the Arabic Scale of CFS (ASCFS). Both have good reliability and validity. Results: Women had significantly a higher mean score on the ASCFS than did their male counterparts. All the correlations between the 12 items of the ASI and the ASCFS total score were statistically significant (p < 0.01) in men and women. However, the correlations between the ASI items belonging to the factor of “Consequences of insomnia” were higher than those with the items belonging to the factor “Difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep”. The multiple stepwise regression indicated that the best insomnia complaint to predict CFS was the item “My interrupted sleep affects my work performance”. This item explained approximately 25% of variance in CFS scores. Conclusion: Insomnia and CFS share specific common elements. Therefore, documenting the presence and degree of insomnia in the CFS population could contribute to a better understanding of CFS, and possibly, yield more effective treatment strategies.