Regular Research ArticlesInsomnia Symptoms in Older Adults: Associated Factors and Gender Differences
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Participants
Subjects were recruited as part of a multisite cohort study of community-dwelling persons aged 65 years and older, randomly selected from the electoral rolls of three French cities (Bordeaux, Dijon, and Montpellier) between 1999 and 2001 (3C Study). The study design has been described elsewhere.22 The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University-Hospital of Bicêtre (France), and written informed consent was obtained from each participant. A total of 9,294 subjects,
Participant Characteristics
Of the 9,294 participants initially recruited in the 3C Study, 217 diagnosed with dementia were excluded, 2,308 had not fully completed the sleep questionnaire, and 883 had missing data for confounding variables. The remaining 5,886 participants (54.59% of women) were included in the analysis. Compared with the analyzed sample, the subjects not included were significantly (p < 0.0001) more often women, older, widowed or separated, depressed, with low education level, more likely to have more
Distribution of IS in the Elderly General Population
In our study, IS were found to be highly prevalent, more than 70% of elderly reporting at least one IS. Similar result was reported in another study with 69% of subjects reporting at least one IS.26 In our study, the prevalence was higher in women than in men (75% versus 70%, χ2 test = 18.48, df = 1, p <0.0001). As already reported, DMS was the most frequent IS,1, 4, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and we further observed a comparable prevalence in men and women. As an isolated symptom, it was independently
CONCLUSION
Complaints of IS are common in the elderly general population, with more than 70% of men and women in our study reporting IS with a significantly higher prevalence in women than in men. Women more frequently experience two or three symptoms, whereas men more frequently complain of only one symptom. As insomnia is frequently determined by a cutoff point on a scale, this could explain why the prevalence rates are often reported to be higher in women. Factors associated with IS are very similar
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The 3C Study is conducted under a partnership agreement between Inserm, the Victor Segalen–Bordeaux II University, and Sanofi-Synthélabo. The Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale funded the preparation and first phase of the study. The 3C Study is also supported by the Caisse Nationale Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés, Direction Générale de la Santé, MGEN, Institut de la Longévité, Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé, the Regional Governments of Aquitaine, Bourgogne and Languedoc-Roussillon, and the Fondation de France, the Ministry of Research-Inserm Programme “Cohorts and collection of biological material.” The Lille Génopôle received an unconditional grant from Eisai. Part of this project is supported by a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR project 07 LVIE 004).
The funding organizations played no role in the design or conduct of the study or in the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data and did not participate in preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.