Objectives:

To describe sleep characteristics in institutionalized older adults: insomnia prevalence and sleep quality and disturbances.

Methodology:

Cross-sectional descriptive study of 100 subject aged 65 or older institutionalized in the nursing home Núñez de Balboa (Albacete). Sleep quality was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and diagnosis of insomnia was assessed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-V) criteria. Covariables: sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidity, use of psychoactive drugs, pain, Geriatric Depression Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, Barthel Index, and Mini Nutritional Assessment.

Results:

The prevalence of insomnia was 15% and for the “poor sleepers” was 77%. We can highlight that the sleep latency was over 30 minutes in 35% of the cases and 42% had sleep efficiency under 65%. Subjective sleep quality was “really good or very good” in 77%. Highest PSQI scores were associated with worse functional status (r=-0.22; p<0.05), higher risk of depression (r=0.33; p<0.001), poorer nutritional status (r=-0.25; p<0.05), polypharmacy (r=0.22; p<0.05) and pain (p<0.05).

Conclusions:

Our sample presents a low prevalence of insomnia but high frequency of “poor sleepers”. Worse sleep quality relates with high level of dependence, high risk of depression, poor nutritional status, pain and polypharmacy.

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