Prevalence of Chronic Insomnia in Adult Patients and Its Correlation with Medical Comorbidities

Introduction: Insomnia is one of the common but neglected conditions seen in family practice with long term and serious effects on health of a patient. Family physicians have the responsibility of diagnosing and adequately treating this. This study was done to find the prevalence of chronic insomnia in adult patients visiting a family medicine outpatient department (OPD) in a hospital and to assess the risk factors and co morbidities associated with it.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the family medicine OPD at St. Philomena's Hospital, Bengaluru. All adult patients attending the OPD from September 1 to October 30, 2015 were enrolled in the study after obtaining written consent. Athens Insomnia Scale was used to diagnose insomnia and information regarding medical co morbidities was collected. Data was analyzed for the prevalence of insomnia and its association with co morbidities.

Results: Chronic insomnia was seen in 33% of the adult population sampled. Increasing age and diabetes were significantly associated with insomnia, while other socioeconomic factors and co morbidities were not significantly associated. Twenty-seven percent of patients who had insomnia did not perceive the condition, which was statistically significant.

Conclusion: Insomnia is a common sleep disorder which is many times missed by a primary care physician until/unless asked for. Since there is a higher incidence with increasing age and co morbidities such as diabetes, all patients, especially middle-aged and diabetics, should be screened for insomnia by the primary care physician with a self assessed questionnaire and counseled.