Prescription sleep aid use among adults: United States, 2005-2010.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2010. About 4% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over used prescription sleep aids in the past month. The percentage of adults using a prescription sleep aid increased with age and education. More adult women (5.0%) used prescription sleep aids than adult men (3.1%). Non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to use sleep aids (4.7%) than non-Hispanic black (2.5%) and Mexican-American (2.0%) adults. Prescription sleep aid use varied by sleep duration and was highest among adults who sleep less than 5 hours (6.0%) or sleep 9 or more hours (5.3%). One in six adults with a diagnosed sleep disorder and one in eight adults with trouble sleeping reported using sleep aids.