SLEEP COMPLAINTS AMONG ELDERLY PERSONS - AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF 3 COMMUNITIES

The frequencies of five common sleep complaints - trouble falling asle ep, waking up, awaking too early, needing to nap and not feeling reste d-were assessed in over 9,000 participants aged 65 years and older in the National Institute on Aging's multicentered study entitled ''Estab lished Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly'' (EPESE). Less than 20% of the participants in each community rarely or never h ad any complaints, whereas over half reported at least one of these co mplaints as occurring most of the time. Between 23% and 34% had sympto ms of insomnia, and between 7% and 15% percent rarely or never felt re sted after waking up in the morning. In multivariate analyses, sleep c omplaints were associated with an increasing number of respiratory sym ptoms, physical disabilities, nonprescription medications, depressive symptoms and poorer self-perceived health. Sleep disturbances, particu larly among older persons, oftentimes may be secondary to coexisting d iseases. Determining the prevalence of specific sleep disorders, indep endent of health status, will require the development of more sophisti cated and objective measures of sleep disturbances.