Prevalence and determinants of insomnia among patients living with asthma in Northwest Ethiopian University specialised hospitals: Multicentre cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: The study was aimed to determine the prevalence and contributing factors of insomnia among patients with bronchial asthma. DESIGN: A multicentre cross-sectional survey was used. SETTING: This study was carried out from January to March 2022 in three university comprehensive specialised hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS: 422 patients with bronchial asthma were approached of which 93.8% completed the survey. OUTCOMES: The degree of asthma control and the severity of insomnia were evaluated using the Asthma Control Test and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), respectively. The characteristics of the participants were presented, arranged and summarised using descriptive statistical analysis, and correlations between predictors and outcome variables were examined using logistic regression. The cut-off point was a p value of 0.05. RESULTS: Participants’ ages ranged from 33.6 to 65.2 years on average. Just under three-fourths (71.4%) of the participants had at least one episode of insomnia as per the ISI measurement (score ≥10). The odds of insomnia episodes were about 5.4 and 1.93 times higher in patients with uncontrolled asthma and partially controlled asthma status, with adjusted OR (AOR)=5.4 (95% CI 4.4 to 6.79, p<0.001) and AOR=1.93 (95% CI 1.21 to 4.11, p<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSION: Insomnia episodes were substantially higher in bronchial patients with asthma. Insomnia is accompanied by asthma severity, and uncontrolled asthma and partially controlled asthma status are the two most determining factors for experiencing sleep disturbance. Furthermore, a prospective follow-up study must determine the real association found between insomnia and asthma control.