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How is Your Sleep: A Neglected Topic for Health Care Screening

From the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH

Correspondence: Corresponding author: Adam J. Sorscher, MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755 (E-mail: adam.sorscher{at}dartmouth.edu)

Purpose: Inadequate sleep, whether it is caused by voluntary sleep curtailment or specific sleep disorders, is highly prevalent, has wide-ranging negative consequences for human health and well-being, and is greatly under-diagnosed. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of inquiry by family medicine clinics about unhealthy sleep patterns and symptoms in their health history database questionnaires.

Methods: This study surveyed health history database forms used by family medicine clinics in the 7-county Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area for questions related to sleep disorders. Fourteen distinct database batteries that are used in 121 primary care clinics and employ 935 family medicine doctors (roughly 75% of physicians practicing in this region) were analyzed.

Results: Direct questions about sleep health are often not included in health history questionnaires. Eight of 14 (57%) database batteries reviewed in this study featured no sleep-related questions. Other lifestyle issues were screened with much greater frequency. For example, questions about healthy eating patterns and regular physical activity were present in 13 and 12 of the 14 batteries (93% and 86%), respectively.

Conclusions: Despite the significant burden that sleep disorders place on human health, this study found that family medicine clinics do not screen for them as frequently as they do for other lifestyle/behavioral issues when they establish a health history database for new patients.

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