Longitudinal trends of the healthcare-seeking prevalence and incidence of insomnia in Taiwan: An 8-year nationally representative study

Insomnia and healthcare-seeking behaviors: impact of case definitions, comorbidity, sociodemographic, and cultural factors

“…Thus, it is important not to confuse prevalence and incidence rates of healthcare-seeking behaviors vs actual insomnia. In this regard, the data reported by Hsu et al [2] are significantly lower than those typically reported in epidemiologic surveys of insomnia [3][4][5]. A plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that the majority of individuals with insomnia do not seek professional treatment, and even with National Health Insurance coverage one could argue that many individuals still may not seek insomnia treatment for various reasons.…”

“…The paper by Hsu et al [2] in this issue of Sleep Medicine provides additional insight into one of several important public health aspects of insomnia, that is, healthcare-seeking behaviors.…”

“…Although this information was not reported in the report by Hsu et al [2], it would have been valuable to ascertain if seeking healthcare was specifically initiated for insomnia or for a comorbid condition with overlapping symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression). Because insomnia often is comorbid with other psychiatric (e.g., depression) and medical conditions (e.g., pain) and because such comorbid conditions can influence healthcare-seeking behaviors [8], it is essential for epidemiologic studies to distinguish cases of insomnia disorder with and without comorbidities.…”

“…Cross-sectional studies have strengthened the evidence that insomnia is a prevalent health problem in the general population, and longitudinal studies also have more recently documented the persistent course of insomnia and its negative outcomes on mental (e.g., depression), physical (e.g., hypertension), and occupational health (e.g., disability) [1].The paper by Hsu et al [2] in this issue of Sleep Medicine provides additional insight into one of several important public health aspects of insomnia, that is, healthcare-seeking behaviors.Using insurance claims of over 900,000 enrollees of the National Health Insurance program in Taiwan, the authors examined the annual rates of outpatient and inpatient consultations for insomnia from 2002 to 2009. Point prevalence estimates of healthcare-seeking behaviors varied between 2.5% and 4.2% annually, with an increasing trend over the 8-year period, whereas incidence rates fluctuated between 1.3% and 1.6% for the same interval.…”

Socio‐demographic predictors of sleep complaints in indigenous Siberians with a mixed economy

“…However the relationship is not consistent (Grandner et al, 2012), because of the confounding influence of co‐morbidities (Vitiello et al, 2002). In many populations, women are more likely to report sleep complaints than men (Haseli‐Mashhadi et al, 2009; Stranges et al, 2012; Hsu et al, 2013). Yet it is unclear whether biological differences between the sexes or separate gender roles/expectations cause gender differentials in sleep (Knutson, 2013).…”