Sleep disorders in elderly: is it a problem?

Moreira, Vítor; Mota, Ângela; Santos, Bárbara; Pereira, Olívia R.; Costa, Xavier Taboada

Publication

Sleep disorders in elderly: is it a problem?

2018Conference object

dc.contributor.author	Moreira, Vítor
dc.contributor.author	Mota, Ângela
dc.contributor.author	Santos, Bárbara
dc.contributor.author	Pereira, Olívia R.
dc.contributor.author	Costa, Xavier Taboada
dc.date.accessioned	2018-11-05T16:43:41Z
dc.date.available	2018-11-05T16:43:41Z
dc.date.issued	2018
dc.description.abstract	Sleep disorders are one of the most relevant clinical symptoms in adults, with increasing prevalence throughout life, reaching in large scale the elderly population. The present study aimed to characterize the sleep disorders in the elderly and its pharmacological therapy. A cross-sectional study was performed through application of a questionnaire to 381 elderly in pharmacies of Braga, Bragança and Porto cities. Descriptive statistics were used, as well as univariate and multivariate statistical analysis, with significance level of 5%. The elderly are most from female gender (60.1%), aged between 65 and 74 years (49.6%) and live in rural areas (73.4%). Just 36.5% of elderly practice physical exercise and an important amount of elderly drink coffee and tea (68.8% and 73.2%, respectively). Concerning sleep characteristics, the elderly go to bed between 6 p.m. and 2 a. m. and about half of participants (52.8%) go between 10 p.m. and 12 a. m.. Approximately one third had difficulty in falling asleep (38.1%), especially in elderly from Bragança region. During the sleep, a large proportion of the elderly reported having their sleep stops (78.2%) usually for 15-30 minutes and 26.5% wake up twice in the night. Taking into account that the time it delay to sleep is an important factor, in the present study was statistically related with the gender (p=0,003) and with take medication to sleep (p<0,001). The same factors have statistically related with “wake up during the night” (p=0,046, p=0,003, respectively). 40.7% of the surveyed elderly have diagnosed sleep disorders mainly insomnia (19.7%) following by restless legs syndrome (3.4%), excessive drowsiness (2.9%) and sleep apnea, sleep-walking and narcolepsy (about 1%). It is important refer that from the elderly which assumes suffer sleep disorders just 40.7% have been consulted a doctor. Of those who consulted the doctor, 21.3% of elderly was advised to change their lifestyle habits such as to avoid heavy meals before bedtime, to establish a sleep routine, to lie down only when he/she is sleepy and to practice physical activity. Concerning pharmacological therapy, 41.7% take medication for sleep disorders, 9% take a medication without consulting a doctor, while 32.5% elderly people take medication after consulting a doctor. From these, the most used are benzodiazepines such as alprazolam (12.5%), diazepam (8.6%), lorazepam (4.5%) and brotizolam (3.7%). Sleep disorders are frequent in elderly population. It is necessary to raise awareness in this population group, which associate the sleep problems to age.	pt_PT
dc.description.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion	pt_PT
dc.identifier.citation	Moreira, Vítor; Mota, Ângela; Santos, Bárbara; Pereira, Olívia R.; Costa, Xavier (2018). Sleep disorders in elderly: is it a problem? In Proceedings of the 4th IPLeiria’s International Health Congress e BMC Health Services Research. 18(Suppl 2):684, p. 45	pt_PT
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10198/18144
dc.language.iso	eng	pt_PT
dc.peerreviewed	yes	pt_PT
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	pt_PT
dc.subject	Sleep Disorders	pt_PT
dc.subject	Elderly	pt_PT
dc.subject	Pharmacological therapy	pt_PT
dc.subject	Sleep	pt_PT
dc.subject	Aging	pt_PT
dc.title	Sleep disorders in elderly: is it a problem?	pt_PT
dc.type	conference object
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.citation.conferencePlace	Leiria	pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue	S2	pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage	45	pt_PT
oaire.citation.title	4th IPLeiria’s International Health Congress	pt_PT
oaire.citation.volume	18	pt_PT
person.familyName	Pereira
person.familyName	Taboada Costa
person.givenName	Olívia R.
person.givenName	Xavier
person.identifier	145216
person.identifier.ciencia-id	B312-AF21-D2FA
person.identifier.ciencia-id	FF14-5C05-5276
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-6275-3134
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-5813-1228
person.identifier.rid	H-1049-2014
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	52264387000
rcaap.rights	openAccess	pt_PT
rcaap.type	conferenceObject	pt_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	e8fdab9a-3ad6-47e6-b90c-7a37aabcb453
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	aa8f5ceb-7279-42c4-8704-e000004b6df2
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	aa8f5ceb-7279-42c4-8704-e000004b6df2