Insomnia symptoms common among female veterans

Insomnia symptoms were significantly prevalent among female veterans and most commonly occurred among other mental health symptoms, according to data presented at the SLEEP 2016 annual meeting.

To assess prevalence of insomnia symptoms among female veterans, researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a stratified random sample of female veterans using VA primary care facilities between 2010 and 2011 (n = 6,247).

Overall, 47.5% of the cohort screened positively for insomnia symptoms, despite only a small number of diagnosed sleep disorders (0.27%).

Analysis indicated the presence of an outpatient mental health visit differentiated those with insomnia vs. those without (66.3% vs. 34.5%). Further, pain and several other factors differentiated those with insomnia vs. those without.

Eight homogenous groups of women with sleep problems were identified. Women with mental health symptoms, chronic pain or PTSD had the highest rate of insomnia symptoms.

“Results from the analysis provide a clinical decision tree identifying subgroups of women with high and low risk for insomnia symptoms,” Kimberly Babson, PhD, of the National Center for PTSD and VA Palo Alto Health Care System, said in a press release. “These results can be used by primary care clinicians to identify women that fit within these subgroups for referral, assessment and intervention of insomnia symptoms in order to decrease risk for the psychological, physical, and psycho-social consequences associated with insomnia.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Babson KA, et al. Prevalence and associated risk factors of insomnia among female veterans. Presented at: SLEEP Annual Meeting 2016; June 11-15; Denver.

Disclosure: Perlis reports receiving support from NIH R01AG041783. Please see the full study for a list of all other relevant financial disclosures.