Sleep-related disorders among a healthy population in South India

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep-related disorders (SRDs) though frequent, are under-reported and their implications are often neglected.

Objective: To estimate SRDs in an apparently healthy South Indian population.

Materials and methods: Data was collected by administering a questionnaire including Sleep Disorders Proforma, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to 1050 apparently healthy attendants/relatives of patients attending a tertiary healthcare institution.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 35.1±8.7 years with even gender distribution (male: female; 29:21), work hours were 7.8±1.33 h and had regional representation from the southern Indian states. The majority of the respondents did not report any significant medical/psychiatric co-morbidities, hypertension was noted in 42.6%, in one-fourth, the body mass index (BMI) was >25, and in 7.7% the neck size was >40 cm. Daily tea (70.3%) and coffee (17.9%) consumption was common and 22.2% used tobacco. Average time-to-fall-asleep was 22 min (range: 5-90 min), average duration-of-actual-sleep was 7 h (range: 3.5-9.1 h) with the majority (93.8%) reporting good-quality sleep (global PSQI ≤5). The reported rates of SRDs varied between 20.0% and 34.2% depending on the instrument used in the questionnaire. Insomnia, sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD), narcolepsy, and restless legs syndrome (RLS) were reported by 18.6%, 18.4%, 1.04% and 2.9%, respectively. Obesity was not strongly associated with SRBD. in 51.8% of subjects with SRBD BMI was <25 kg/m 2 . Of the respondents with insomnia, 18% had difficulty in initiating sleep, 18% in maintaining sleep and 7.9% had early morning awakening. Respondents attributed insomnia to depression (11.7%) or anxiety (2.5%). Insomnia was marginally high in females when compared to males (10.3% vs. 8.3%) and depression was the major reason. RLS, which was maximal at night, was responsible for delayed sleep onset (74.2%). Other SRDs included night terrors (0.6%), nightmares (1.5%), somnambulism (0.6%), and sleep-talking (2.6%). Family history of SRDs was present in 31.4% respondents. While, only 2.2% of the respondents self-reported and acknowledged having SRD, health-seeking was extremely low (0.3%).

Conclusion: SRDs are widely prevalent in India. Considering the health implications and poor awareness, there is a need to sensitize physicians and increase awareness among the public.