Does insomnia kill?
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the prevalence and hazard ratios for insomnia complaints in a large cohort of middle-aged men and women.


METHODS
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is a prospective study of cardiovascular disease. Using multivariate regression analysis, we predicted the likelihood of endorsing the insomnia complaints by age, sex, alcohol intake, smoking, diabetes, heart disease, menopausal status, use of hypnotics, hypertension, depressive symptoms, education level, body mass index, respiratory symptoms, and pulmonary function status. We predicted the hazard ratios (HR) of death at 6.3 +/- 1.1 year by endorsement of insomnia complaints and by hypnotic use controlling for covariates.


METHODS
North American communities.


METHODS
13563 participants aged 45 to 69 years at baseline


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
The prevalence of insomnia complaints in this cohort was 23%. Predictors of insomnia complaints were female sex (odds ratio [OR] 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-0.70 for men), annual family income below 50,000 dollars (OR 1.23, CI 1.09-1.40), age 40 to 49 years (OR 1.29, CI 1.11-1.50), depressive symptoms (OR 5.05, CI 4.60-5.55), heart disease (OR 1.89, CI 1.67-2.14), severe airflow obstruction (OR 1.61, CI 1.17-2.22), pulmonary symptoms (OR 1.71, CI 1.5-1.95), and restrictive lung disease (OR 1.27, CI 1.10-1.47). After controlling for covariates, insomnia complaints were not associated with an increased risk for death (OR 1.01, CI 0.85-1.21), nor was the use of hypnotics (OR 1.38, CI 0.90-2.13).


CONCLUSIONS
In this cohort, the prevalence of insomnia complaints was 23%. After controlling for confounders, neither insomnia complaints nor hypnotic use predicted increased mortality over 6.3 years.
Phillips
Barbara
B
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA. bphil95@aol.com
Mannino
David M
DM
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008593:Menopause / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology