Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Sleep quality, use of hypnotics and sleeping habits in different age-groups among older people

Hagg, Miriam ; Houston, Britta ; Elmståhl, Sölve LU ; Ekström, Henrik LU and Wann-Hansson, Christine LU (2014) In Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 28(4). p.842-851
Abstract
Background: Sleep disturbances are common among older people (>65 years). Further, long-term use of sedative-hypnotics in older people is associated with morbidity and mortality. However, older people represent a large span of life years, and few studies have included the oldest-old above 85 years. Aim: To investigate and compare sleep quality, use of hypnotics and sleeping habits in different age groups of the older population in the Scania region, Sweden and in relation to sociodemographic- and functional status. Design and participants: A cross-sectional population-based study including 2931 people aged 60-93 years from five different municipalities in Scania was performed during 2001-2004. Method: The sample was divided into age... (More)
Background: Sleep disturbances are common among older people (>65 years). Further, long-term use of sedative-hypnotics in older people is associated with morbidity and mortality. However, older people represent a large span of life years, and few studies have included the oldest-old above 85 years. Aim: To investigate and compare sleep quality, use of hypnotics and sleeping habits in different age groups of the older population in the Scania region, Sweden and in relation to sociodemographic- and functional status. Design and participants: A cross-sectional population-based study including 2931 people aged 60-93 years from five different municipalities in Scania was performed during 2001-2004. Method: The sample was divided into age groups, young-old (60-72 years), old-old (78-84 years) and oldest-old (87-93) years. Data constitutes of sleep related questions, sociodemographic-and functional status from the study 'Good Ageing in Skane'. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sleep quality, hypnotics use and sleeping habits in relation to sociodemographic-and functional status. The aim was to investigate associations, not the magnitude of associations between variables. Results: In all age groups, those who used hypnotics and were living alone had significantly poorer sleep quality and shortest sleeping time than nonhypnotic users and those who lived together. A significant increase of hypnotics and frequency of use was seen with increasing age. Frequency of napping increased significantly with degree of dependence in all age groups and with increasing age. Conclusions: Insomnia is still a problem and hypnotic use has not improved sleep for a large number of older people. Hypnotics are effective as short-term treatment, however, nonpharmacological interventions and psychological and behavioural therapies should be considered for treating older people with chronic insomnia. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
older people, sleep quality, hypnotics, sleeping habits
in
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences
volume
28
issue
4
pages
842 - 851
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000345314000025
  • pmid:25562100
  • scopus:85027931388
ISSN
1471-6712
DOI
10.1111/scs.12119
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Division of Geriatric Medicine (013040040), The Vårdal Institute (016540000)
id
82853c68-6478-4918-a2fc-1fa6d2f597a8 (old id 4982962)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25562100?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:51:12
date last changed
2022-03-29 17:49:43
@article{82853c68-6478-4918-a2fc-1fa6d2f597a8,
  abstract     = {{Background: Sleep disturbances are common among older people (>65 years). Further, long-term use of sedative-hypnotics in older people is associated with morbidity and mortality. However, older people represent a large span of life years, and few studies have included the oldest-old above 85 years. Aim: To investigate and compare sleep quality, use of hypnotics and sleeping habits in different age groups of the older population in the Scania region, Sweden and in relation to sociodemographic- and functional status. Design and participants: A cross-sectional population-based study including 2931 people aged 60-93 years from five different municipalities in Scania was performed during 2001-2004. Method: The sample was divided into age groups, young-old (60-72 years), old-old (78-84 years) and oldest-old (87-93) years. Data constitutes of sleep related questions, sociodemographic-and functional status from the study 'Good Ageing in Skane'. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sleep quality, hypnotics use and sleeping habits in relation to sociodemographic-and functional status. The aim was to investigate associations, not the magnitude of associations between variables. Results: In all age groups, those who used hypnotics and were living alone had significantly poorer sleep quality and shortest sleeping time than nonhypnotic users and those who lived together. A significant increase of hypnotics and frequency of use was seen with increasing age. Frequency of napping increased significantly with degree of dependence in all age groups and with increasing age. Conclusions: Insomnia is still a problem and hypnotic use has not improved sleep for a large number of older people. Hypnotics are effective as short-term treatment, however, nonpharmacological interventions and psychological and behavioural therapies should be considered for treating older people with chronic insomnia.}},
  author       = {{Hagg, Miriam and Houston, Britta and Elmståhl, Sölve and Ekström, Henrik and Wann-Hansson, Christine}},
  issn         = {{1471-6712}},
  keywords     = {{older people; sleep quality; hypnotics; sleeping habits}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{842--851}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences}},
  title        = {{Sleep quality, use of hypnotics and sleeping habits in different age-groups among older people}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/scs.12119}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/scs.12119}},
  volume       = {{28}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}