An epidemiological study on insomnia in an elderly Thai population.

The authors investigated the one-month prevalence and associations of insomnia in an elderly Thai population. A random sample of 40,111 individuals was selected from those of persons over 60 years of age by multiple stage sampling. The subjects were interviewed using a sleep questionnaire. Prevalence of insomnia of the population was 46.3 per cent. Depression and poor perceived health were factors strongly associated with insomnia. On the basis of these findings, the authors consider the prevalence of insomnia among the Thai elderly to be rather high. The implications of this study are of great importance for the design and development of preventive strategies and community-based interventions.