Crude and Adjusted Prevalence of Sleep Complaints in Mexico City

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the crude prevalence rates of several sleep complaints and the prevalence for each one adjusted for the coexistence of symptoms in other sleep domains in a representative sample of adult individuals from Mexico City. METHODS: A probabilistic sample of 1933 adult individuals living in Mexico City was surveyed using fourteen questions of the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire to assess sleep-related symptoms and sleep complaints. Estimates of crude prevalence rates for each sleep disturbance and adjusted for a score ≥ the 80th. percentile in the questionnaire were calculated. RESULTS: The following prevalence rates were found: insomnia 39.7%; excessive diurnal sleepiness (EDS) 20.9%; obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (EDS plus snoring) 7.7%; habitual snoring 9.9%; restless legs syndrome (RLS) 4.4%; narcolepsy 0.9%; sleep paralysis (SP) 13.2%; and hypnotic use 1.2%. When prevalence rates were calculated accounting for symptoms in other sleep domains, notable reductions were observed in complaints of insomnia (17.3%), EDS (10.3%), and SP (8.7%), while minor decreases were observed for complaints of snoring (7.4%), OSAS (5%), and RLS (3.8%); narcolepsy prevalence practically did not change (0.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep complaints are highly prevalent in Mexican adult population. More than a half of the individuals with a given sleep disturbance have a global sleep deterioration associated to psychosocial and health impairments.