SLEEP PROBLEMS IN THE AGED IN RELATION TO SENILITY

As a part of an epidemiologic survey of dementia in a community of age d persons, correlation between sleep complaints and physical illness a nd senility were studied. A total of 3302 randomly sampled aged indivi duals (aged greater than or equal to 65 years) were studied using a qu estionnaire. In this sample the prevalence of poor sleep and habitual snoring did not increase with age. The prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness showed an increase with age. Male predominance of habitual snoring and female predominance of poor sleep were observed. Female p redominance of excessive daytime sleepiness was noted among the aged 7 0 and over. Age-related excessive daytime sleepiness was significantly correlated with senility.