Are prescribed medications effective in the treatment of insomnia complaints?

Although frequently investigated in the general population, the epidemiolog y of insomnia complaints and their treatment have received little attention in general practice. This study recruited patients greater than or equal t o 15 years of age, consecutively. from 127 general practitioners in France. The physicians collected data from 11,810 of their patients, of whom 55.5% were women. Insomnia complaints were reported by 26.2% (25.4% to 27%) of t he sample and use of sleep-promoting medication by 10.1% (9.7% to 10.7%). A bout 47% of the prescribed drugs used were anxiolytics and 45% hypnotics. M ost consumers took sleep-enhancing drugs on a daily and long-term basis and most reported that the medication improved their quality of sleep. However , few distinctions emerged between elderly drug-taking insomniacs and elder ly nontreated insomniacs with respect to the various dimensions of sleep. R esults underscore the persistent general tendency among French general prac titioners to overprescribe anxiolytics for the treatment of insomnia compla ints and that they do so on a long term basis, despite the findings of nume rous studies showing that benzodiazepines are ineffective in the treatment of sleep complaints over the long term. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.