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Prevalence of INSOMNIA in Europe
A Comparison of Six Countries
Siva Narayanan – TNS Healthcare, a Kantar Health Company, New York, USA
Peter Potthoff, Bernd Guether, Claudia Kanitscheider, Inga-Verena Wiebers – TNS Healthcare, a Kantar Health Company, Munich, Germany
Introduction
Graphic-1: Insomnia in Europe
35
Prevalence of insomnia
≥ 14%
≥ 20%
≥ 26%
UK
Netherlands
Germany
30
France
Dispersion by gender
Female
Male
Objectives
Prevalence of insomnia varies widely between the screened 6 nations, with France (27%)
and Netherlands (14%) occupying the opposite ends of the spectrum. Despite these
differences, across all studied countries women are more often affected by sleeping disorders
than men. For women the average (unadjusted) risk of suffering from insomnia is twice
as high as for men. Also, age influences liability to sleeping problems. As shown in Chart-1,
prevalence of insomnia increases with age and reaches peak level at the age of 50-54 years.
40
Percentages
Insomnia is a symptom of sleeping disorder. It is defined as a difficulty in initiating or
maintaining sleep, which decreases quantity and quality of sleep and with that quality
of life. Lack of sleep can cause problems during the day, such as excessive sleepiness,
complications with thinking clearly or staying focused. Chronic insomnia often leads to
low mood or depressed feeling.
Results
Chart-1: Prevalence of Insomnia and Consumption of Sleeping Pills
Italy
25
20
15
10
Spain
5
The primary objective of this study was to assess the intra-European differences in
prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and medication of insomnia. The second aim of this
study was to screen the population in order to identify individuals suffering from
insomnia for further surveys.
0
18-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
Age (years)
Insomnia / sleeping problems – female
Insomnia / sleeping problems – male
Consumption of sleeping pills – female
Consumption of sleeping pills – male
EHP 2007 / 2008, N = 237,354
EHP 2007 / 2008, N = 237,354
Chart-2: Prevalence of Selected Disease-Groups – A Comparison between Total Population
and Group of Individuals Suffering from Insomnia / Sleeping Problems
Chart-3: Treatment of Insomnia / Sleeping Problems
Evaluation of diagnosis, treatment and medication use revealed some key differences
between these six countries; however, a common trend can be identified: among those
diagnosed with insomnia condition, general practitioners are the primary point of
diagnoses as well as the primary source of treatment. But a majority of individuals who
reported sleeping problems received neither diagnosis nor treatment. Consequently,
nearly half of the affected individuals do not take any medication against their sleeping
problems, whereupon women are more likely to take sleeping pills than men among the
subset of medication users.
Methods
TNS Healthcare’s European Healthcare Panel of individuals in France, Germany, Italy,
UK, Spain and the Netherlands were surveyed in 2007 and 2008 to assess disease
burden at national level. The self-reported epidemiological data is representative of
population gender and age (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-69 yrs) strata in
respective countries, ensured by sampling and intensive panel management.
Ratio
Pain diseases
60
1.4
Infection diseases
1.9
44
45
48
52
53
18
1.5
14
Metabolism diseases
10
23
1.9
14
Oncological diseases
22
20
1.7
13
Eye diseases
20
7
1.9
32
Urology diseases
Conclusions
18
1.8
12
Musculoskeletal disease
30
17
1.6
19
Respiratory diseases
8
1.4
20
Skin diseases
40
24
1.8
5
Mens and womens health
20
1.8
Percentages
The survey collected information on select health conditions (incl. insomnia / sleeping
problems; in the past 12 months), quality of life and healthcare utilization. In total, about
240,000 adult individuals completed the survey in the six European nations.
Gastro Intestinal diseases
53
Mental health problems 2.4
50
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
UK
Netherlands
Germany
France
Spain
Italy
Percentages
Persons suffering from insomnia / sleeping problems
Total population
EHP 2007 / 2008, N = 237,354
TNS Healthcare, a Kantar Health Company // Siva Narayanan, MS MHS
Ph: +1 203 434 9581
Em: [email protected] // Peter Potthoff, MD
General practitioner /
family doctor
EHP 2007 / 2008, N = 52,569
Ph: +49 (0)89 5600 1370
Em: [email protected]
Specialist / hospital /
medical care centre
Independent of age and gender, a higher proportion of individuals with Insomnia are
found to suffer from other comorbidities in comparison to the general population.
Especially the risk of suffering from mental health problems in the insomnia group is
more than two-times higher. Depending on the respective disease (and the individual
medical history) sleeping disorder can be a cause or result of some of the observed
comorbidities.
Only self-medication
Not medically treated
Prevalence of insomnia appears to be substantial in the studied European nations, with
France bearing the most burden (one-in-five and one-in-three males and females respectively
in France suffered from this condition). Prevalence peaked among the 45-64 age-group
across the countries. Females had substantially higher disease burden across the
countries, amounting to as much as 1.5 to 2 times more than their male counterparts
in certain age groups. A total patient management approach addressing the sleeping
problem and the existing comorbidities may be necessary to alleviate the disease burden.