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. 2017 Oct 18;7(5):309-313.
doi: 10.1080/20009666.2017.1374108. eCollection 2017.

New onset of insomnia in hospitalized patients in general medical wards: incidence, causes, and resolution rate

An Ho  1 , Bronson Raja  1 , Richard Waldhorn  2 , Valentina Baez  1 , Idiris Mohammed  1
Affiliations

New onset of insomnia in hospitalized patients in general medical wards: incidence, causes, and resolution rate

An Ho et al. J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect. .

Abstract

Background: Insomnia is common in hospitalized patients. However, no study has examined new onset of insomnia in patients without a prior history of insomnia. Objectives: Incidence of new onset of insomnia in inpatients, associated factors and resolution rate after 2 weeks. Method: This is a prospective observational study conducted at a community hospital. We used the Insomnia Severity Index questionnaire to screen for insomnia in all patients located in the general medical floors from day 3 to day 5 of their hospital stay. We excluded patients with a prior insomnia history. Results: Out of the 205 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 75 patients (36%) reported insomnia. Severe insomnia was present in 3% of patients. Difficulty in maintaining sleep is the most common symptom. Frequent staff disruptions due to blood draws and vital signs checks were reported by 68% as the cause of insomnia, followed by illness associated causes (64%) and sleep disruption due to noise and or brightness (23%). Patients with insomnia had more awakenings due to noise, brightness, and staff interruptions than those without insomnia (1.35 times vs. 0.9 times, p = 0.027). Patients with respiratory symptoms, cardiac monitoring, oxygen use, private rooms, and no sedative use did not have a higher insomnia risk. Patients with insomnia had significant lower satisfaction scores than patients without insomnia (4.53 vs. 4.05, p = 0.001) but did not have a different length of stay (6.18 vs. 6.19, p = 0.97). In 31% of patients with insomnia who were able to be contacted two weeks after discharge, 75% of them had insomnia resolution. Conclusion: New onset of insomnia occurred in 36% of hospitalized patients. Most common causes are staff disruption and disease symptoms. It was usually short-term and could decrease patients' satisfaction score.

Keywords: acute insomnia; general medical floor; hospitalized patients; insomnia; new onset of insomnia; sleep disturbances.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Patient flow in the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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