Primary Care Patients

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	SLEEP HABITS
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	SLEEP DISORDERS
	• Dyssomnias - Breathing Disorders - UARS (disabled) - Sleep Apnea - Apnea/Hypertension - Daytime Sleepiness - Hypersomnia (disabled) - Insomnia - Epidemiology - Literature Review - Etiological Forms - Elderly - With Pain - Narcolepsy - Periodic Limb Movement - Restless Legs Syndrome • Parasomnias New - Bruxism - Confusional Arousals - Hypnagogic H. - Hypnopompic H. (disabled) - Nightmares - Sleep Paralysis - Sleep Terrors - Sleep Violence - Sleep Walking - Snoring
	ASSOCIATED DISORDERS
	• Physical Disorders - Morning Headaches - Hypertension - Chronic Pain • Mental Disorders - Producing Insomnia - Producing Hypersomnia - Producing Parasomnias
	TARGET POPULATIONS
	• Adolescents • Elders - Cognition and EDS* - Insomnia in Elderly • Shift Workers • Countries • Primary Care
	MENTAL DISORDERS
	• Depression - Major Depression (disabled) - Physical Signs (disabled) - With Chronic Pain - With Psychotic Features - With Sleep Apnea • Hallucinations - Historical Perspective - Prevalence, Comorbidity - Hypnagogic - Hypnopompic (disabled) • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Psychotropics

Primary Care Patients

Last edited | 10/21/2008

Most individuals complaining of insomnia consult a general practitioner at least once a year and prescription psychotropic drugs are the usual treatment reserved for these patients.

The prevalence of insomnia and its treatment have been widely investigated in the general population: approximately 10% of the French general population uses sleep-promoting medication, which is high in comparison to other countries .

However, this issue has been given little attention in general practice.

Epidemiological studies in general practice are necessary to learn more about individuals with sleep complaints and the sort of medical help they receive.

Information thus compiled will serve to better train physicians and, consequently, to improve the detection and treatment of sleep disorders.

Research

We recruited patients >=15 years of age, consecutively, from 127 general practitioners in France.
The physicians collected data from 11,810 of their patients, of whom 55.5% were women.

Results

Insomnia complaints were reported by 26.2% (25.4% to 27%) of the sample.

Use of sleep-promoting medication was reported by 10.1% (9.7% to 10.7%).

About 47% of the prescribed drugs used were anxiolytics and 45% hypnotics.

Most consumers took sleep-enhancing drugs on a daily and long-term basis and most reported that the medication improved their quality of sleep.

Few distinctions emerged between elderly drug-taking insomniacs and elderly non-treated insomniacs with respect to the various dimensions of sleep.

Results underscore the persistent general tendency among general practitioners to overprescribe anxiolytics for the treatment of insomnia complaints: they do so on a long-term basis, despite the findings of numerous studies showing that benzodiazepines are ineffective in the treatment of sleep complaints over the long term.

Content of this page is extracted from Ohayon MM, Caulet M, Arbus L, Billard M, Coquerel A, Guieu JL, Kullmann B, Laffont F, Lemoine P, Paty J, Pecharde JC, Vecchierini F, Vespignani H. Are prescribed medications effective in the treatment of insomnia complaints? J Psychosom Res 1999; 47:359-68

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