Journal Information

Voted One of the 100 Most Influential Journals in Biology & Medicine over the last 100 Years

 by the Special Libraries Association

Selected as a core journal  by the Medical Library Association (Public Health)


Recommend & Share


 • 
 CiteULike

Volume 101, Issue 8 (August 2011)
Mairead Eastin Moloney, Thomas R. Konrad, and Catherine R. Zimmer The Medicalization of Sleeplessness: A Public Health Concern. American Journal of Public Health: August 2011, Vol. 101, No. 8, pp. 1429-1433.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300014

Accepted on: Aug 24, 2011

The Medicalization of Sleeplessness: A Public Health Concern

Mairead Eastin Moloney, PhD, Thomas R. Konrad, PhD, and Catherine R. Zimmer, PhD

Mairead Eastin Moloney is with the Program on Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Thomas R. Konrad is with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and the Institute on Aging, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Catherine R. Zimmer is with the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science and the Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Correspondence should be sent to Mairead Eastin Moloney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Program on Integrative Medicine, CB #7200, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7200 (e-mail: ). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints/Eprints” link.

Peer Reviewed

Contributors

M. E. Moloney conceptualized and carried out the study and led the writing. T. R. Konrad and C. R. Zimmer assisted with conceptualization, analyses, and interpretation of results. All authors helped to conceptualize ideas, interpret and write up findings, and review drafts of the brief.



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 raises definite population health concerns.