OBJECTIVES: According to the CDC, a third of Americans get less than the recommended amount of sleep. Lack of sleep has been linked to a myriad of disease states and contributes to workplace absenteeism and presenteeism. Insomnia, a common sleep disorder, is often treated with prescription medications. This study analyzes survey data from patients currently taking commonly prescribed sleep aids in regard to the three symptoms associated with insomnia: difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, and early morning awakenings.

METHODS: Data from the 2005 – 2006 and 2007 – 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES) was used to identify patients taking commonly prescribed sleep aids. Of the 409 patients identified, 392 responded to the “Sleep Disorders” NHANES subsection; this group was used for analysis. A nonparametric one-way ANOVA (Kruskal-Wallis test) was utilized to detect statistically significant differences in survey responses per prescription drug.

RESULTS: Of the 392 patients, 59.4% reported needing at least 30 minutes to fall asleep; of those patients, 59.7% reported needing at least 60 minutes to fall asleep. 21.9% reported waking up during the night greater than 15 times per month. 20.2% reported waking up in the morning greater than 15 times per month. Statistically significant differences between agents were detected for difficulty falling asleep (P = 0.0262) but not for the how often patients woke during the night (P = 0.056) or for early morning awakenings (P = 0.538).

CONCLUSIONS: Despite taking a prescription sleep aid, many patients continue to frequently experience at least one of the three main components of insomnia. Prescribers should consider more carefully evaluating what component(s) of insomnia a patient is struggling with and what medication / intervention may be most appropriate. There may be a need for more frequent patient follow-up and more comprehensive evaluation of the patient’s sleep quality.