Global Perspective

One of the most common disorders treated by primary care practitioners is insomnia. Insomnia treatment costs can be high and complications can be serious. Females and elderly are diagnosed more frequently with insomnia. Mental disorders including depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, reported to affect sleep quantity and quality. Insomnia is associated with low levels of health related quality of life including both physical and mental health domains. Workload, irregular sleep wake schedule, poor sleep hygiene, stress and environmental factors contribute towards poor health related quality of life (HRQoL) and quality of sleep. The status of mental health and emotional quality of life (QoL) has been reported poor in patients suffering from mild and severe insomnia. The status of general health was also poor among insomniacs and the poor QoL was related to disease severity. Insomnia is linked to substantial health care resource use, reduction in workforce and productivity. Increasing prevalence of insomnia especially among students is an area of concern at present in Pakistan. It has been reported that among general population 30% of individual does not always sleep and 5% individual never sleep well. The estimated prevalence of insomnia in males is 28.6% and among females 32.7%.Alarming rise in sale of medicines used for management of insomnia among Pakistani people is being observed, especially among urban population. Sleep and sleep hygiene has been reported as ignored area of clinical care necessitating need of further research and interventions in terms of patient educational programs in Pakistan

Health Related Quality of Life and Sleep Quality among Insomnia Patients

Insomnia is the most frequent sleep related complaint and labeled as a 24 hour disorder. Sleep insufficiency both in terms of sleep quantity and quality have significant direct and indirect effects on health related quality of life. A study was designed to assess health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and sleep quality among the insomnia patients in twin cities i.e. Islamabad (Federal Capital) and Rawalpindi (Twin city), Pakistan. Study site for this research included outpatient neurology and psychiatry departments located in public and private hospitals, neurology & psychiatry clinics and associated pharmacies in twin cities of Pakistan.  The results of the study concluded that insomnia had an influence on all domains of HRQoL with greatest impact reported in role physical, role emotional and social functioning due to compromised physical health. The general health was below good among insomniacs with significantly lower sleep quality as a result of sleep disturbances and sleep latency also causing great impact as daytime dysfunction.