Prevalence of sleep disorders in general practice and morbidities associated with it

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep disorders are a common health problem in our society, which unfortunately is usually ignored. The quality and quantity of one’s sleep are affected by sleep disorders and many medical conditions, acute or chronic, causing daytime fatigue and working ability impairment. Several epidemiological studies estimate the prevalence of insomnia in the general population from different countries ranging from 13,4% to 48%. According to a German study, the prevalence of sleep disorders in general practice is assessed at 58,5%; within the group of severely insomniac patients 35% were males and 65% females. Purpose and objectives: Since in our country this has to be the first epidemiological study it has to outline the sleep characteristics, prevalence of sleep problems in general practice, the dependence on gender and age and association with various medical conditions. Materials and methods: This study is based on questionnaires filled in by general practice physicians in 2 cities from Moldova (Bălţi and Chişinău) during a week. There were interrogated 1967 patients, among which 67,9% were female and 32,1% male. Results: The incidence of sleep disorders among patients that consulted a general practitioner are rated to 86,43%. The most common affected age is over 60 years- 29,5%; followed by the range of ages between 50 and 60 years-29,0%; 40-50 years-14,9%; 30-40 years-7,0%; 20-30 years-4,7%; 15-20 years1,2% and <15 years-0,2%. It seems that women are more likely to suffer from sleep disorders than men: 68,45% of patients with sleep issues are females and 31,55% are males. The most common sleep disorder is the difficulty in falling asleep-23,9% cases, followed by intermittent sleeping in 19,8%, the same amount of patients related association of initial insomnia, intermittent sleeping and early awakening. 10,6% of patients with sleep disorders deal with early awakening; 6,2% have an early insomnia and intermittent sleeping, 3,6% associate the sleep onset insomnia with early awakening and 3,2 % of them complained of intermittent sleeping and early awakening. In 1698 cases there are noted connections with other morbidities. Thus, the most common medical conditions linked with sleeping disturbances are cardiovascular diseases- 23,4% followed by neurological disorders- 15,9%, respiratory system diseases- 3,7%, endocrine disorders 3,5% and other diseases -12,4%. Conclusion: The high prevalence of sleep disorders in our population and the association with several morbidities underscore the importance of sleep problems, as indicators of health status.