Faculty

Stephen F Smagula, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Geriatric Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory

Education & Training

PhD
University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health Epidemiology
MS
Columbia University, Graduate School of Education, Health & Psychology Neuroscience and Education
University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineSleep Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of MedicineLate-Life Mood Disorders Research

Research Interests

Sleep-wake patterns and late-life depression; Neurobiology of late-life depression; Sleep epidemiology
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Smagula SF, Beach S, Rosso AL, Newman AB, Schulz R. (in press). Brain structural markers and caregiving characteristics as interacting correlates of caregiving strain. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
  2. Smagula SF, Krafty RT, Taylor BJ, Martire LM, Schulz R, & Hall MH. (in press). Rest-activity rhythm and sleep characteristics associated with depression symptom severity in strained dementia caregivers. Journal of Sleep Research.
  3. Smagula SF, Stone KL, Fabio A, Cauley JA. (2016). Risk factors for sleep disturbances in older adults: evidence from prospective studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 25:21-30. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2015.01.003.
  4. Smagula SF, Ancoli-Israel S, Blackwell T, Boudreau R, Stefanick M, Paudel M, Stone KL, Cauley JA. (2015). Circadian rest-activity rhythms predict future increases in depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older men. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(5): 495-505. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2014.06.007.
  5. Smagula SF, Butters MA, Anderson SJ, Lenze EK, Dew MA, Mulsant, BH, Lotrich FE, Aizenstein H, Reynolds CF. (2015). Antidepressant response trajectories and associated clinical prognostic factors in late-life depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(10):1021-1028. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry .2015.1324.

Dr. Stephen Smagula Correlates Greater Sleep Fragmentation and Less Sustained/Sharply Segregated Resting and Active Periods in Strained Caregivers with Depression Severity

Dr. Stephen Smagula

Depression is associated with disturbances to sleep and the 24-hour sleep-wake pattern, or rest-activity rhythm (RAR). However, there remains a need to identify the specific sleep/RAR correlates of depression symptom severity in population subgroups, such as strained dementia caregivers, who are at elevated risk for major depressive disorder. In a five-year study led by Dr. Smagula’s mentor, Martica Hall, PhD...