Primary Versus Secondary Insomnia in Older Adults Subjective Sleep and Daytime Functioning

• Published in: Psychology and aging Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 264 - 271
• Main Authors: Lichstein, Kenneth L, Durrence, H. Heith, Riedel, Brant W, Bayen, Ute J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-06-2001
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adult Development; Adult. Elderly; Age Differences; Age Factors; Aged; Aging; Anxiety - etiology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Day time; Depression - etiology; Developmental psychology; Elderly people; Fatigue - etiology; Fatigue - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Status; Human; Humans; Insomnia; Male; Medical research; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Older people; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Quality of Life; Regression Analysis; Self-Assessment; Severity of Illness Index; Sleep; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - complications; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - etiology; Human; Secondary; Sleep; Insomnia; Primary; Sleep disorder; Elderly; Subjective evaluation
• ISSN: 0882-7974; 1939-1498
• DOI: 10.1037/0882-7974.16.2.264

Most psychological research on insomnia has centered on primary insomnia (PI). Secondary insomnia (SI), though more common than PI, has received little attention because of its presumed unresponsiveness to treatment. The present study recruited older adults with PI, SI, and a comparison group of older adults with no insomnia (NI). Self-report assessments of sleep revealed no significant difference between the 2 insomnia groups. Daytime functioning measures found significant differences in impairment between the 3 groups with SI having the worst daytime functioning, followed by PI, which was worse than NI. Further analyses found substantial independence between sleep and daytime functioning. Implications of these findings for the clinical management of SI are discussed.