White Americans Are More Likely To Report Experiencing Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Posted on: Monday, 8 June 2009, 08:41 CDT
According to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday, June 8, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, white Americans are more likely to report experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) more days per month than Asians, African Americans and Hispanics, but African Americans experience more severe EDS.Results indicate that of all racial groups in the study, white participants were most likely to report feeling excessively sleepy for more than five days a month. Of the total sample, 18.4 percent of white Americans reported EDS, as compared to 12.1 percent of Chinese, 14.3 percent of African Americans and 16.8 percent of Hispanics. The study also found that according to the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), a questionnaire used to measure the frequency of dozing off during the daytime, African Americans experienced higher rates of EDS than other racial groups . Of the total study, 13 percent of African Americans, 7.9 percent of whites, 7.7 percent of Chinese and 9.3 percent of Hispanics experience daytime sleepiness.
According to lead author of the study Kelly Glaze Baron, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill., the largest factor that explained higher EDS in African Americans was differences in physical health, including being more likely to be overweight and having higher rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. African Americans also reported to sleeping for less hours than other racial groups, which also contributes to higher rates of sleepiness.
These results have public health implications. "If African Americans are less likely to report feeling overly sleepy but more likely to have pathological sleepiness, they may be less likely to get treatment for sleep disorders," said Baron.
The study included data from 5,173 men and women with an average age of 66.4 years. Of the total sample, 40.7 percent of participants were white, 11.3 percent were Chinese, 26.2 percent were African American and 21.3 percent were Hispanic. Demographic information, health behavior (exercise and smoking), physical health and medications, sleep (self reported sleep time, diagnosis with sleep disturbance symptoms), depression, social support and chronic burden were collected. EDS was measured through self report of frequency (more than five days per month) and the ESS.
Authors of the study claim that feeling overly sleepy takes into account attitudes, values and comparisons to family and friends. Findings of this study indicate that dozing off during the daytime has a stronger relationship to current health status.
-----------
On The Net:
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Related Articles
- Americans Support U.S. Working to Improve Health in Developing Countries
- Pinnacle Health Communications(TM), LLC, Launches the American System for Advancing Senior Health (ASASH(TM)) to Empower Seniors With Credible Health Information
- African Sleeping Sickness Control is Vital
- Upstream Biosciences to Collaborate With Makerere University for In Vivo Testing of Its Novel Agents to Treat African Sleeping Sickness
- US FDA Grants Orphan Drug Status to Immtech's Pafuramidine for Treatment of African Sleeping Sickness
- Drug Fights African Sleeping Sickness
- American Council on Science and Health Dispatches Influenza Experts to Discuss Threat of Bird Flu
- American Red Cross Urges Public Health Precautions
- Study: Thai Health Sites Are Unreliable
- Obesity Can Lead to Brain Loss, Study Finds; Overweight Women Have Higher Risk of Dementia, Tissue Shrinkage
Rating: 2.9 / 5 (9 votes)
 |
 |
Rate this article:
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds