Gender differences in terms of sleep hygiene, sleepiness, and the severity of insomnia in Iranian elderly population

Background: Insomnia is one of the most common problems in the old adults. Sleep disorder increases with age and it is caused by, among many, physiological, psycho-sociological, and pharmacological factors. This study was performed to compare sleep hygiene, sleepiness, and insomnia in elderly men and women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with statistical population of all men and women older than 60 years. Totally, 598 subjects were selected using randomly clustered sampling method. Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: The mean scores of sleep health, sleepiness, and severity of insomnia in male participants were 29.01, 7.79, and 8.43, respectively. These figures in the female participants were 28.48, 7.39, and 9.86, respectively. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the elderly men and women regarding the severity of insomnia while there was no significant difference in terms of the rate of sleepiness and sleep hygiene score (P greater than 0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that insomnia was significantly more common in elderly women than elderly males. Sleep hygiene and sleepiness in elderly men and women were not significantly different.