Andrew Tubbs

Research Summary

I use a translational neuroscience approach to address the role of sleep and circadian rhythms in mental health. My current work focuses on how the timing of wakefulness influences suicidal thoughts and behaviors. By leveraging community and nationally representative samples, I have shown that nocturnal wakefulness increases the likelihood of suicidal ideation and suicide death, while morning wakefulness reduces the likelihood of suicidal ideation. These findings highlight a temporal rhythm to suicide risk, which I hypothesize is the result of sleep- and circadian-dependent changes in cortico-limbic activity and connectivity. I intend to explore this hypothesis using mini-longitudinal/ecological momentary assessment study designs, EEG analyses, and behavioral sleep interventions. Additionally, I am interested in the nature and extent of sleep and circadian deficits in patients with psychotic disorders, and how these deficits can precipitate and/or exacerbate psychotic experiences. Consequently, I partnered with the Early Psychosis Intervention Center (EPICenter) in the Department of Psychiatry to provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia to patients with psychotic disorders. While this work is largely clinical, I have IRB approval to collect patients' sleep data (including actigraphic and polysomnographic records), which I hope to use as pilot data for future grants.

Publications

Selected Papers:

• Khader WS, Tubbs AS, Haghighi A, Athey AB, Killgore WDS, Hale L, Perlis ML, Gehrels JA, Alfonso-Miller P, Fernandez FX, Grandner MA. Onset insomnia and insufficient sleep duration are associated with suicide ideation in university students and athletes. J Affect Disord. 2020 Sep 1;274:1161-1164. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.102. Epub 2020 May 24. PMID: 32663946; PMCID: PMC7384749.
• Tubbs AS, Harrison-Monroe P, Fernandez FX, Perlis ML, Grandner MA. When reason sleeps: attempted suicide during the circadian night. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020 Oct 15;16(10):1809-1810. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.8662. PMID: 32621577.
• Tubbs AS, Fernandez FX, Perlis ML, Hale L, Branas CC, Barrett M, Chakravorty S, Khader W, Grandner MA. Suicidal ideation is associated with nighttime wakefulness in a community sample. Sleep. 2020 Jul 2:zsaa128. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa128. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32614967.
• Tubbs AS, Perlis ML, Basner M, Chakravorty S, Khader W, Fernandez F, Grandner MA. Relationship of Nocturnal Wakefulness to Suicide Risk Across Months and Methods of Suicide. J Clin Psychiatry. 2020 Feb 25;81(2):19m12964. doi: 10.4088/JCP.19m12964. PMID: 32097547.
• Tubbs AS, Gallagher R, Perlis ML, Hale L, Branas C, Barrett M, Gehrels JA, Alfonso-Miller P, Grandner, MA. Relationship between insomnia and depression in a community sample depends on habitual sleep duration. Sleep Biol. Rhythms. 2020 Feb 06;18(2):143-153. doi: 10.1007/s41105-020-00255-z
• Tubbs AS, Khader W, Fernandez F, Grandner MA. The common denominators of sleep, obesity, and psychopathology. Curr Opin Psychol. 2020 Aug;34:84-88. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.11.003. Epub 2019 Dec 2. PMID: 31835070.
• Tubbs AS, Grandner MA, Combs D. Refractory Insomnia in an Adolescent with Total Blindness. Yale J Biol Med. 2019 Jun 27;92(2):201-204. PMID: 31249480; PMCID: PMC6585511.
• Tubbs AS, Combs D, Grandner MA, Parthasarathy S. Obstructive sleep apnea in Jacobsen Syndrome. Sleep Vigilance. 2019 Apr 21;3(1):77-79. doi: 10.1007/S41782-019-00060-W
• Tubbs AS, Perlis ML, Grandner MA. Surviving the long night: The potential of sleep health for suicide prevention. Sleep Med Rev. 2019 Apr;44:83-84. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2019.01.001. PMID: 30797539; PMCID: PMC6530547.
• Murzl CA, Durns TA, Mowrey LT, Tubbs AS, Boeve SA. A Medical Student-Run Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic: One Institution's Experience. Acad Psychiatry. 2017 Oct;41(5):582-586. doi: 10.1007/s40596-017-0753-x. Epub 2017 Jul 13. PMID: 28707231.

Book Chapters

• TUBBS, A.S., DOLLISH, H.K., FERNANDEZ, F., GRANDNER, M.A. “THE BASICS OF SLEEP PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR.” SLEEP AND HEALTH, 1ST ED., ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS, 2019, PP. 28–35.
• TUBBS, A.S., GRANDNER, M.A. “SLEEP AND HEALTH.” INTEGRATIVE SLEEP MEDICINE, 1ST ED., OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (IN PRESS).

• TUBBS, A.S. CBT-I FOR PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND OTHER PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS. COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA, 1ST ED., ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS (IN PRESS)

Conference Presentations

• Society for Behavioral Sleep medicine Scientific Meeting (2020)
  • Talk: “Insomnia while depressed increases likelihood for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in a nationally representative sample”. 
• SLEEP (2020)
  • Poster: “Morning wakefulness is associated with reduced suicidal ideation in a nationally-representative US sample.” 
  • Poster: “Habitual Daytime Sleepiness and the Timing of Use of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine.” 
• Society for Behavioral Sleep Medicine Scientific Meeting (2019)
  • Poster: “Nocturnal suicide risk across months and methods.” 
• Sleep (2019)
  • Talk: “Sleep Timing and the Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation in a Community Sample”. 
• SLEEP (2018)
  • Poster: “Seasonal Changes in Nocturnal Suicide Risk”. 
  • Talk: “Does Increased Risk for Suicide at Night Favor One Method of Suicide Over Another?”