Introduction Sleep in depression is characterized by a reduction of slow wave sleep (SWS) and shortening of the interval between sleep onset and the occurrence of the first REM period (i.e. REM latency). In this study, the authors sought to study and compare the polysomnographic patterns in patients with major depressive disorder and their first degree relatives and also to establish any correlation between sleep parameters and brain ventricular system measurements in patients with depression. Methods In this study, patients (N = 15) with ICD-10 clinical diagnosis of unipolar depression (N = 7) or recurrent depressive disorder (N = 8) along with their first degree male relatives (N = 15) and normal controls (N = 15) were enrolled. All the participants underwent two nights of polysomnography. The polysomnographic data was collected and analyzed using the Sandman Elite Polysomnography System. Computed Tomography was used for neuroimaging of brain. Results Significant difference was observed between the three groups in terms of total sleep period, sleep onset latency, stage 1 latency, REM duration, REM percentage of total sleep time and REM latency. Ventricular brain ratio (VBR) was found to be significantly more in the patient group (7.26 ± 1.55) and Bicaudate ratio (BCR) showed significantly more in patients group (0.140 ± 0.047). Bifrontal ratio was also observed to be significantly more in the patient group. Conclusion This study failed to find any correlation between polysomnographic parameters and ventricular dysmorphology.