Associations between prescription medications and sleep duration, insomnia, and sleep apnea in US military service members.

STUDY

OBJECTIVES

This study examined associations between filled prescription medications (FPMs) and sleep duration, insomnia, and sleep apnea (SA).

METHODS

Active-duty service members (SMs) (n = 20,819) completed a questionnaire on sleep, demographics, and lifestyle characteristics and permitted access to their pharmacy and medical records 6-months before questionnaire completion. FPMs were classified by American Hospital Formulary System Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification System (PTCS) codes and compared across sleep durations of ≥7, 5-6, and ≤4 h and among those with and without diagnosed insomnia and SA.

RESULTS

Compared to SMs reporting ≥7 h sleep, those reporting 5-6 and ≤4 h had 1.19 (95 %confidence interval [95 %CI] = 1.12-1.27) and 1.69 (95 %CI = 1.45-1.97) times higher odds of a FPM, respectively, after adjustment for demographics and lifestyle characteristics. Compared to SMs reporting ≥7 h sleep, those reporting 5-6 h had higher adjusted odds of FPMs in 10 of 20 PTCS codes--particularly electrolyte/caloric/water-balance agents--and those reporting ≤4 h had higher odds in 13 of 20 PTCS codes--particularly cardiovascular and central nervous system (CNS) agents. SMs with insomnia or SA had 8.66 (95 %CI = 5.89-12.71) and 3.46 (95 %CI = 2.90-4.12) higher adjusted odds of an FPM compared to those without insomnia or SA, respectively. SMs with insomnia or SA had higher adjusted odds of FPMs in 16 and 18 of 20 PTCS codes compared to those without these diagnoses. Cardiovascular and CNS agents were most prevalent in both sleep-disordered groups.

CONCLUSION

Filling prescriptions in many different classes of medications increased as sleep duration decreased and was higher among SMs with diagnosed insomnia or SA.