Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Sep 3:10:531.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-531.

Insomnia and its correlates in a representative sample of the Greek population

Thomas Paparrigopoulos  1 , Chara Tzavara, Christos Theleritis, Constantin Psarros, Constantin Soldatos, Yiannis Tountas
Affiliations

Insomnia and its correlates in a representative sample of the Greek population

Thomas Paparrigopoulos et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Insomnia is a major public health concern affecting about 10% of the general population in its chronic form. Furthermore, epidemiological surveys demonstrate that poor sleep and sleep dissatisfaction are even more frequent problems (10-48%) in the community. This is the first report on the prevalence of insomnia in Greece, a southeastern European country which differs in several socio-cultural and climatic aspects from the rest of European Community members. Data obtained from a national household survey (n = 1005) were used to assess the relationship between insomnia symptoms and a variety of sociodemographic variables, life habits, and health-related factors.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire with questions pertaining to general health and related issues was given to the participants. The Short Form-36 (Mental Health subscale), the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) as a measure of insomnia-related symptoms, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were also used for the assessment.

Results: The prevalence of insomnia in the total sample was 25.3% (n = 254); insomnia was more frequent in women than men (30.7% vs. 19.5%) and increased with age. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant association of insomnia with low socio-economical status and educational level, physical inactivity, existence of a chronic physical or mental disease and increased number of hospitalizations in the previous year.

Conclusions: The present study confirms most findings reported from other developed countries around the world regarding the high prevalence of insomnia problems in the general population and their association with several sociodemographic and health-related predisposing factors. These results further indicate the need for more active interventions on the part of physicians who should suspect and specifically ask about such symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The prevalence of insomnia presented by sex and age groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ohayon MM. Epidemiology of insomnia: what we know and what we still need to learn. Sleep Med Rev. 2002;6:97–111. doi: 10.1053/smrv.2002.0186. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Breslau N, Roth T, Rosenthal L, Andreski P. Sleep risk disturbance and psychiatric disorders: a longitudinal epidemiological study of young adults. Biol Psychiatry. 1996;39:411–418. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(95)00188-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yeo BK, Perera IS, Kok LP, Tsoi WF. Insomnia in the community. Singapore Med J. 1996;37:282–284. - PubMed
    1. Ohayon MM, Caulet M, Guilleminault C. Complaints about nocturnal sleep: how a general population perceives its sleep, and how this relates to the complaint of insomnia. Sleep. 1997;20:715–723. - PubMed
    1. Ohayon MM, Caulet M, Priest RG, Guilleminault C. DSM-IV and ICSD-90 insomnia symptoms and sleep dissatisfaction. Br J Psychiatry. 1997;171:382–388. doi: 10.1192/bjp.171.4.382. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources