Disturbed sleep among adolescents living in 2 communities on the Texas-Mexico border, 2000-2003.
BACKGROUND
Disturbed sleep is a public health problem, but few studies describe the prevalence of sleep problems among Hispanic adolescents. We estimated the prevalence of disturbed sleep and associated factors among ninth graders living on the Texas-Mexico border.


METHODS
We used probabilistic sampling to conduct 2 cross-sectional, school-based surveys: 1 during the 2000-2001 school year in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas (n = 4,901), and 1 during the 2002-2003 school year in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (n = 669). We assessed disturbed sleep during the 4 weeks before the survey.


RESULTS
The prevalence of disturbed sleep in Matamoros was 36% and in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was 28%. Factors associated with disturbed sleep in both populations were smoking cigarettes, having ever used cocaine, having been forced to have sex, considering attempting suicide, feeling sad, and going without eating for 24 hours or more.


CONCLUSIONS
This study revealed a high prevalence of disturbed sleep in high school students living on the Texas-Mexico border. This public health issue should be further investigated in both communities.
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Austin, TX 78701, USA. adriana.perez@uth.tmc.edu
Adriana
A
Pérez
Robert E
RE
Roberts
Maureen
M
Sanderson
Belinda
B
Reininger
Maria Isabel
MI
Aguirre-Flores
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology