Sleep-related injury in the elderly--an epidemiological study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objectives: Sleep-related injury is a serious but under-recognized condition. We examined the occurrence of sleep-related injuries and REM sleep behavior disorder (RSBD) in a community sample of elderly in Hong Kong.

Design: A representative sample of elderly aged 70 years or above were interviewed with a screening question on the presence of sleep-related injuries. Those who answered affirmatively as well as a subsample of negative responders were interviewed by clinicians. Patients with suspected sleep disorders underwent physical and psychiatric assessment as well as sleep studies.

Setting: NA.

Patients or participants: NA.

Interventions: NA.

Results: In total, 1034 elderly were surveyed and 0.8% reported history of sleep-related injury. Four subjects were confirmed to have RSBD, giving an estimated prevalence of RSBD of 0.38% (95% CI=0.01 to 0.76%). One subject had suspected RSBD but refused investigations while 1 had history suggestive of transient RSBD but could not be confirmed by the sleep studies. The course of RSBD in these subjects was that of a waxing and waning course instead of a progressive deterioration as described in previous literature. Two patients had been hospitalized for sleep-related injury before but their sleep disorder was not recognized.

Conclusions: We found that sleep-related injury and RSBD were not rare in the elderly but were frequently under-recognized. Our study calls for greater attention to elderly who had sustained injury during sleep.