Sleep-related disorders among a healthy population in South India

• Published in: Neurology India 2012-01, Vol.60 (1), p.68-74
• Main Authors: Panda, Samhita, Taly, Arun B, Sinha, Sanjib, Gururaj, G, Girish, N, Nagaraja, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Blood pressure; Body Mass Index; Catchment Area (Health) - statistics & numerical data; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographic aspects; Epidemiology; Female; Humans; India - epidemiology; Insomnia; Likert scale; Male; Middle Aged; Prevention; Questionnaires; Restless legs syndrome; Risk factors; Sleep disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - etiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0028-3886; 1998-4022
• DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.93601

Sleep-related disorders (SRDs) though frequent, are under-reported and their implications are often neglected. To estimate SRDs in an apparently healthy South Indian population. 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. 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