[Sleep disorders and environmental conditions in the elderly].

Objectives: To establish the prevalence and characteristics of insomnia and its relationship to other health problems, medication, socio-health status and sleep hygiene in the elderly over 65 years of age.

Design: Cross sectional study of prevalence.

Setting: Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha), 2004-2005.

The Hearing-Dependent Daily Activities Scale to evaluate impact of hearing loss in older people.

Purpose: We wanted to design and validate the Hearing-Dependent Daily Activities (HDDA) Scale as a means of identifying the impact of hearing loss in older persons by measuring capacity to carry out hearing-dependent activities.

Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional, observational study to validate a scale administered during a personal interview with 1,160 participants aged 65 years and older. When using the instrument to identify patients with hearing impairment, sensitivity and specificity were determined using an audiogram with Ventry and Weinstein criteria as the criterion standard.

Functional status in the elderly with insomnia.

Background: Insomnia causes psychological distress in the elderly. Besides primary insomnia (PI), illness, medications and psychosocial factors contribute to development of sleep disorders. Although elderly insomniacs usually complain of poorer daytime functioning, it is unknown whether the disorder affects capacity to carry out activities.