title: Excessive daytime sleepiness among the Japanese general population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Excessive daytime sleepiness is one of the principal symptoms of sleep disturbances, and is often associated with serious consequences including traffic and industrial accidents, decreased productivity, and interpersonal problems. However, there are few epidemiologic studies on excessive daytime sleepiness in a large scale sample targeting Japanese general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survey was performed using a self-administered questionnaire in June 2000, targeting a population randomly selected from among 300 communities throughout Japan. This questionnaire included information about sleep habits and sleep problems. Excessive daytime sleepiness measured according to a question "Do you fall asleep when you must not sleep (for example when you are driving a car)?"
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 28,714 subjects completed the questionnaire. The prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness was 2.5% (male=2.8% and female=2.2%). Backward elimination analysis showed that the following were associated with excessive daytime sleepiness: male sex, young age, short sleep duration, subjective insufficient sleep, loss of deep sleep, disagreeable sensations in the legs, interruption of sleep by snoring or dyspnea, and feeling psychological stress. Interruption of sleep by snoring or dyspnea was the strongest associated factor (adjusted odds ratio=2.46, 95% confidence interval=1.76-3.43) of excessive daytime sleepiness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that excessive daytime sleepiness in Japanese is associated with several sleep problems. These findings may be useful in attempts to prevent excessive daytime sleepiness in the general population of Japan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. kaneita@med.nihon-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneita
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohida
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takemura
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Eise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Takeo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harano
authors.forename: Kenshu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Akiyo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
authors.forename: Tsuneto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akashiba
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology