Poor sleep quality: A wake-up call for the elderly at a tertiary care centre in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Objective: To assess the burden of sleep disorders in the elderly, and the effects of various co-morbidities linked with sleep disorders.

Methods: The longitudinal cross-sectional study was conducted in different outpatient departments at a tertiary care centre in Islamabad, Pakistan, from June 2014 to June 2015, and comprised patients of either gender aged 60 years or above. Pittsburgh sleep quality index and Epworth sleepiness scale were used to measure the quality and patterns of sleep and daytime sleepiness in the elderly. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.

Results: Of the 1000 subjects, 638(63.8%) were males, and 362(36.2%) were females. The overall mean age was 66.96±7.05 years. Epworth sleepiness scale >10 was found in 265(26.5%) subjects, while Pittsburgh sleep quality index score in 516(51.6%) was >5. Sleep quality score in 578(57.8%) women was statistically significant compared to 478(47.8%) males (p<0.05).

Conclusions: There was a significant burden of sleep-related disorders in the subjects.