Sleeping habits in the Austrian population

doi:10.1016/S1389-9457(01)00117-4

Sleep Medicine

Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2002, Pages 21-28

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1389-9457(01)00117-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives: To gain reliable data on sleeping habits and sleep disturbances of the Austrian population.

Background: Exact data on sleeping habits are of interest in relation to assessment of sleep disturbance-related illnesses and general social processes.

Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was performed with recruitment of a representative sample of 1049 Austrians (aged 15–82 years), according to the Federal Statistics population characteristics. Interviews were conducted in the households of the participants by specially trained interviewers of an institute for empirical research.

Results: Men consider their quality of sleep to be significantly better than women (P=0.00234), and younger persons consider their quality of sleep to be significantly better than older persons (P=0.00001). In comparison, women and people over the age of 50 report worse subjective sleep quality, worse sleep efficiency, more difficulty in falling asleep and sleep maintenance, more apneic events, more pathologic limb movements, more daytime dysfunction, and more intake of sleeping medication. Other sociodemographic factors influence sleep reports to a lesser extent.

Conclusions: Subjectively disturbed sleep (prevalence in the total population 24.9%), excessive hypnotic drug intake (prevalence 13.0%), and daytime dysfunction (prevalence 17.4%) are a widespread problem, especially in women and older people. With increasing life expectancy in Western societies, the prevalence of sleep disturbances will increase.

Introduction

In recent studies sleep disturbances have been reported to be very common, especially among elderly people [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. With increasing life expectancy in Western societies, the prevalence and incidence of these problems will increase in the following decades [5]. Sleep disturbances are often associated with psychological stress and psychiatric symptoms, especially anxiety and depressive disorders [10], [11], [12], [13], but also frequently with various general medical and neurological illnesses [14]. Epidemiological studies on sleep disturbances are published from different Western countries [1], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19] and from Japan [20]. Data on sleeping habits are of interest for the assessment of sleep disturbances as well as in the context of social and industrial medicine (working hours, daytime performance, shift-work). To gain reliable data on physiological sleeping habits, and to differentiate between so-called normal sleep and disturbed sleep, an epidemiological study based on a representative sample of the Austrian population was performed.

Section snippets

Population

In March 1997, a representative sample of the Austrian general population (1049 participants, 493 men and 556 women, age range 15–82 years, Table 1) was examined concerning subjective sleep quality. The sample was selected by the so-called ‘quota-procedure’, which means that the distribution of specific population characteristics such as sex, age, education, living area and profession was taken from the Federal Statistics. Those interviewed had to represent the distribution of these

Results

In a first step of evaluation, the following epidemiological categories were formed: sex; age (15–29, 30–49, and ≥50 years); educational level (9 years of elementary school, secondary school without final exam, GCE A-level or academic education); occupation (farmers, blue collar workers, employees, executives, self-employed); purchasing power (high, middle, low); size of community (villages in the country, <5000 inhabitants; smaller cities, <100 000 inhabitants; capitals of the nine Austrian

Discussion

This study presents reliable data on sleeping habits of the Austrian population. Publications of epidemiological data about different countries [1], [9], [13], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28] have presented substantial information concerning sleep disturbances and somewhat less about normal sleeping habits, often only in certain segments of the population [7], [9], [25], [27], [28], [29]. Some years ago we presented data on sleep disturbances in

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More than one fifth of the participants in a rural area of China slept poorly and the prevalence in females was significantly higher than males. Effective interventions are urgently needed to improve the sleep quality in resource limited areas.
The Henan Rural Cohort Study has been registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Register (Registration number: ChiCTR-OOC-15006699). http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=11375.
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Women reported significantly more sleep problems than males, with a PSQI mean score difference of 1.16 and an effect size of d = 0.35. This gender difference was even greater than that of the general population in Austria (diff = 0.73) [31] and Hong Kong (diff = 0.77) [16]. In the USA, the differences between the mean scores of a large sample of elderly females (M = 6.3) [19] and elderly males (M = 5.6) [33] were also lower.
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Citation Excerpt :
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Original articleSleeping habits in the Austrian population

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Population

Results

Discussion

Maturitas

Prevalence of sleep disorders in the Los Angeles metropolitan area

Am J Psychiatry

Sleep disorders in older patients

Sleep Disord

Prevalence and treatment of insomnia in general practice

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

Determinants of quality of life and health status in outpatients

Schweiz Med Wochenschr

Epidemiology of sleep disorders in Austria

Wien Klin Wochenschr

Sleep reported prevalence and treatment of sleep disorders in Austria

J Epidemiol Community Health

Principal lifetime occupation and sleep quality in the elderly

Gerontology

Epidemiological study of sleep disorders in patients in Swiss general practice

Schweiz Rundsch Med Prax

A survey of sleep habits and sleeping difficulties in elderly Swedish population

Upsala J Med Sci