Prevalence of insomnia in the Thai population

Objective: To review the data concerning insomnia in Thailand that have been published in international journals. Methods: A search was made through PubMed using the word "insomnia in Thailand" or "insomnia in Thai". Other data were obtained from the staff of the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University. Results: The prevalence of frequent night waking in three-month-old infants was 51.5%. Frequent night waking was independently associated with various factors of parental practices related to infant sleep such as the use of a swinging or rocking cradle or falling asleep while feeding. The overall prevalence of insomnia in healthy adults and the elderly Thai population was 40.8% and 46.3% respectively. Data from the older Thai population found that insomnia problems increased significantly with advancing age with depression and poor perceived health as the most significant associated factors. Conclusion: Insomnia and night waking are common in the Thai population. Further research is needed and a comprehensive programme to detect and prevent sleep problems in all age groups should be considered.