IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2010.300014_8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The medicalization of sleeplessness: A public health concern

Author

Listed:
  • Moloney, M.E.
  • Konrad, R.
  • Zimmer, C.R.

Abstract

Sleeplessness, a universal condition with diverse causes, may be increasingly diagnosed and treated (or medicalized) as insomnia. We examined the trend in sleeplessness complaints, diagnoses, and prescriptions of sedative hypnotics in physician office visits from 1993 to 2007. Consistent with the medicalization hypothesis, sleeplessness complaints and insomnia diagnoses increased over time and were far outpaced by prescriptions for sedative hypnotics. Insomnia may be a public health concern, but potential overtreatment with marginally effective, expensive medications with nontrivial side effects raisesdefinitepopulationhealth concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Moloney, M.E. & Konrad, R. & Zimmer, C.R., 2011. "The medicalization of sleeplessness: A public health concern," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(8), pages 1429-1433.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2010.300014_8
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300014
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2010.300014_8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.