Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders: Vecchierini MF

Ohayon MM, Vecchierini MF. · Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, 3430 W. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA. · Sleep. · Pubmed #16218081 No free full text.

Abstract: STUDY OBJECTIVES: To present normative data of sleep-wake characteristics and to examine risk factors associated with extreme values (i.e., in the 5 lower and upper percentiles of the distribution) in older adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional telephone survey SETTING: The metropolitan area of Paris, France. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 7010 randomly selected households were contacted. Among them, 1264 households included at least 1 resident 60 years of age or older; 1026 subjects agreed to participate (participation rate: 80.9%). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Subjects were interviewed with the Sleep-EVAL System about their sleeping habits and sleep and psychiatric disorders. In addition, the system administered to all the participants the Psychological General Well-Being Schedule, the Cognitive Difficulties Scale (Mac Nair-R), and an independent living scale. The median nighttime sleep duration was 7 hours without significant difference between the age groups. Factors positively associated with the 5 percentile (4 hours 30 minutes or less) of nighttime sleep duration were obesity, poor health, insomnia, and insomnia accompanied by daytime sleepiness and cognitive impairment. At the other extremity (95th percentile), long sleep (9 hours 30 minutes or more) was associated with organic disease, lack of physical exercise, and lower education. A daytime sleep duration of 1 hour or more (95th percentile) was associated with being a man, cognitive impairment, high blood pressure, obesity, and insomnia. Long sleep latency (95th percentile at 80 minutes) was associated with anxiety, lower education, poor health, insomnia without excessive daytime sleepiness, and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Obesity and loss of autonomy in activities of daily living was associated with both early (9 PM or earlier) and late bedtime (1 AM or later) and early (< or = 5 AM) and late (> or = 9 AM) wake-up time. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates the usefulness of normal distributions of sleep parameters in the general population to calculate different risk factors associated with extreme values of the normal distribution.

Ohayon MM, Caulet M, Arbus L, Billard M, Coquerel A, Guieu JD, Kullmann B, Loffont F, Lemoine P, Paty J, Pechadre JC, Vecchierini MF, Vespignani H. · Research Center Phillipe Pinel of Montreal, Quèbéc, Canada. · J Psychosom Res. · Pubmed #10616230 No free full text.

Abstract: Although frequently investigated in the general population, the epidemiology of insomnia complaints and their treatment have received little attention in general practice. This study recruited patients > or =15 years of age, consecutively, from 127 general practitioners in France. The physicians collected data from 11,810 of their patients, of whom 55.5% were women. Insomnia complaints were reported by 26.2% (25.4% to 27%) of the sample and use of sleep-promoting medication by 10.1% (9.7% to 10.7%). About 47% of the prescribed drugs used were anxiolytics and 45% hypnotics. Most consumers took sleep-enhancing drugs on a daily and long-term basis and most reported that the medication improved their quality of sleep. However, few distinctions emerged between elderly drug-taking insomniacs and elderly nontreated insomniacs with respect to the various dimensions of sleep. Results underscore the persistent general tendency among French general practitioners to overprescribe anxiolytics for the treatment of insomnia complaints and that they do so on a long-term basis, despite the findings of numerous studies showing that benzodiazepines are ineffective in the treatment of sleep complaints over the long term.