The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhiites not having enough sleep, dozing off at daytime

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhiites not having enough sleep, dozing off at daytime

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea has become a common ailment

NEW DELHI: Famed for being a city with a heart, Delhi's medical record points to an ugly pattern that has doctors and researchers up and thinking. Putting its simply, Delhiites are just not sleeping too well!

And taking the brunt of the erratic sleep pattern are the men who, according to doctors, often go without adequate sleep or have disturbed rest pattern punctuated with loud snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness.

A surprisingly common ailment in the city, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterised by loud snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. And according to doctors, this is recorded among persons having significantly higher body mass index making them prone to high blood pressure.

Results of a study conducted by the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute and funded by the Department of Science and Technology revealed a history of sleep related breathing disorder symptoms in 1,011 (7 per cent) of the 14,991 people tested for the study in the Capital.

Of this, 696 (9 per cent) were males and 315 (4 per cent) were females and further analysis had shown that people with sleep related breathing disorder symptoms were more pronounced when they had a significantly higher body weight. Also, sleep related breathing disorder symptoms -- snoring -- was significantly more in males compared to females.

"Sleep-related breathing disorders especially sleep apnoea syndrome is not well studied and the medical profession is not well acquainted with this entity. Many diseases such as hypertension, myocardial infarction and respiratory failure are associated with this disorder. As daytime sleepiness is an important feature of this disease. Accidents, especially motor accidents, can occur if drivers are suffering from the disease. We undertook two population-based studies during 2002-04 to know the sleep-related breathing disorder symptoms in Delhi in an effort to understand the spread of the problem,'' said Director of Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute V. K.Vijayan.

For the study a population-based survey was conducted in both the rural and urban areas of the Capital to know the prevalence of sleep related breathing disorders using a questionnaire. In the rural areas, 19 villages of a total of 232 were randomly selected during the first stage. After ascertaining the population of each village, households were then selected randomly to obtain a sample of 350 to 400 people from each village.

In the urban areas, polling stations in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi area were selected randomly for this purpose. Thirty-two polling stations of a total of 134 were selected randomly. Population of each polling station was ascertained and households from each station were selected by simple random sampling technique to obtain a sample of 225 to 250 people. The field investigators made house-to-house visits and handed over the study questionnaire to all adult members over 18 years of age residing in the house.

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