Kageyama T, Kabuto M, Nitta H, Kurokawa Y, Taira K, Suzuki S, Takemoto T I
Environmental Health Sciences Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1998 Feb;52(1):69-74. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1998.tb00975.x.
Based on a population survey on insomnia among 3600 adult Japanese women living in urban areas, the prevalence of use of medically prescribed hypnotics is determined. The prevalence of use of medically prescribed hypnotics increases with an increase in age (<1.0% for those aged 49 or younger, while 14.3% for those aged 70 or older), in agreement with the results reported in many Western nations. The current sleep disturbance is mild in nearly half of these hypnotics users. More than one-third of the hypnotic users are receiving health care not for sleep problems but for depression, anxiety, or other reasons. More than one-third of the hypnotic users are found to be receiving hypnotics from non-psychiatrists. The percentage of this group is particularly high among those aged 60 or over, probably reflecting the fact that they are often consulting physicians for physical reasons. On the other hand, more than 80% of insomniacs are suggested to be untreated. Future public health research should focus on the quality of life and health care behaviors of untreated insomniacs and hypnotic users, especially among the elderly people, in order to assess the need for primary health care to prevent accidents, mortality, and psychiatric disorders related to sleep problems.
基于一项对居住在城市地区的3600名成年日本女性进行的失眠症人群调查，确定了使用医学处方催眠药的患病率。医学处方催眠药的使用率随着年龄的增长而增加（49岁及以下人群中使用率低于1.0%，而70岁及以上人群中使用率为14.3%），这与许多西方国家报告的结果一致。在这些催眠药使用者中，近一半人的当前睡眠障碍较轻。超过三分之一的催眠药使用者接受医疗护理并非是因为睡眠问题，而是因为抑郁、焦虑或其他原因。超过三分之一的催眠药使用者被发现是从非精神科医生处获得催眠药。这一群体在60岁及以上人群中的比例尤其高，这可能反映出他们经常因身体原因咨询医生。另一方面，超过80%的失眠症患者未得到治疗。未来的公共卫生研究应关注未治疗的失眠症患者和催眠药使用者的生活质量及医疗行为，尤其是老年人，以便评估预防与睡眠问题相关的事故、死亡率和精神障碍的初级卫生保健需求。
