Increased Prevalence of Insomnia and Changes in Hypnotics Use in England over 15 Years: Analysis of the 1993, 2000, and 2007 National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys

Abstract

Insomnia Changes in England Over 15 Years-Calem et al of Finnish populations found evidence of an increase in the reporting of insomnia symptoms over a 10-year period. 4 The authors also found evidence of increased self-reported consumption of hypnotic medication, but not in the prevalence of hypnotic use, implying increased use in people already receiving these agents. An analysis of medication use based on data from the National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys of 1993 and 2000 found an increase in the prevalence of use of hypnotic medication. 5 There have been concerns that sleep medication use has increased in spite of limited benefits and considerable drawbacks to its use. 6 Comparing insomnia prevalence between places and populations is made difficult by differences in the definition of insomnia, 7 which vary from self-reported symptoms of sleeplessness to the stricter DSM-IV criteria. Changes in insomnia over time can only genuinely be inferred from repeated surveys of single populations which have used comparable sampling methods and measurements. The aim of this paper was to investigate changes in prevalence in insomnia over a 15-year period, as well as the stability of its associations with demographic characteristics, use of hypnotic medication and subjective reasons given for sleep disturbance by participants. To achieve this we used data from 3 national surveys 8 carried out in the UK in 1993, 2000, and 2007, all employing the same measurements and definitions of insomnia, allowing for comparisons based on identical data across time.

Association between light exposure at night and insomnia in the general elderly population: The HEIJO-KYO cohort

“…Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a higher prevalence of insomnia among the elderly than the younger population as well as a steady increase in the prevalence of insomnia in recent decades (Calem et al, 2012;Ford & Kamerow, 1989;Prinz et al, 1990). Previous studies involving a large elderly population showed that approximately 40% of elderly individuals reported any type of insomnia such as difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, early morning awakening, and non-restorative sleep (Calem et al, 2012;Walsh et al, 2011).…”

Time Trends in the Family Physician Management of Insomnia: The Australian Experience (2000–2015)

“…6 Insomnia is common in family physician (FP) settings and is predominantly treated by pharmacotherapy in the United States and elsewhere. [7][8][9][10] Current evidence-based recommendations published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and American College of Physicians recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the first-line and most efficacious therapy. 2,11 Despite this, no health system has enough skilled CBT practitioners to treat even a small proportion of insomnia cases.…”

Actigraphic and self-reported sleep quality in women: associations with ovarian hormones and mood

“…Women report poorer sleep quality, and they have a 41% increased risk of insomnia compared with men [1][2][3]. Self-reported sleep disturbance in women of reproductive age has been traditionally linked with menstrual cycle phase, and sleep disturbance remains a core symptom of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) [4][5][6].…”