PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Epidemiological studies of sleep disorder in educational community of Pakistani population, its major risk factors and associated diseases

  • Ali Umar,
  • Muhammad Saleem Khan,
  • Sheikh Arslan Sehgal,
  • Kamran Jafar,
  • Shabbir Ahmad,
  • Ahmad Waheed,
  • Muhammad Waseem Aslam,
  • Muhammad Wajid,
  • Tanzil Ur Rehman,
  • Tehmina Khan,
  • Allah Ditta,
  • Hasnain Akmal,
  • Muhammad Ashfaq,
  • Tariq Javed,
  • Rida Tahir

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 4

Abstract

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Sleep is one of the most important functions of the life. The disturbance in sleep or quality of sleep leads to several dysfunctions of the human body. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of sleep disorders, their possible risk factors and their association with other health problems. The data was collected from the educational community of the Pakistani population. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to evaluate the insomnia and the sleep apnea was evaluated through a simple questionnaire method. The blood samples were collected to perform significant blood tests for clinical investigations. Current research revealed that the individuals in the educational community had poor sleep quality. A total of 1998 individuals from the educational community were surveyed, 1584 (79.28%) of whom had a sleep disorders, including insomnia (45.20%) and sleep apnea (34.08%). The measured onset of age for males and females was 30.35 years and 31.07 years respectively. The Clinical investigations showed that the sleep had significant impact on the hematology of the patients. Higher levels of serum uric acid and blood sugar were recorded with a sleep disorder. The individuals of the educational community were using the sleeping pills. The other associated diseases were mild tension, headaches, migraines, depression, diabetes, obesity, and myopia. The use of beverage, bad mood, medical condition, mental stress, disturbed circadian rhythms, workload and extra use of smartphone were major risk factors of sleep disorders. It was concluded that the insomnia was more prevalent than the sleep apnea. Furthermore, life changes events were directly linked with disturbance of sleep. Tension, depression, headaches, and migraine were more associated with sleep disorders than all other health issues.