Observation of the Natural Evolution of Insomnia in the American General Population Cohort

Factors associated with insomnia symptoms are numerous; mental disorders and organic diseases are among the most frequently observed associations. Nonetheless, epidemiologic studies examining these associations remain uncommon, partly because of the complexity of assessing mental disorders in the general population and the costs involved in doing lengthy interviews. Longitudinal studies examining the evolution of insomnia symptoms are nearly nonexistent and are limited in the associations studied. This article briefly reviews the existing studies that have examined the associations between insomnia and mental disorders along with consequences of insomnia. New data on a longitudinal study performed at the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center are presented also.