RESUMEN
AIM: Several studies have identified a high prevalence of sleep disorders and insomnia in the French population; however these studies especially focused on sleep did not give enough details on the sociodemographic and occupational characteristics of subjects with sleep disorders. The aim of this study was to characterize adults complaining of sleep disorders in a vast population-based health demographics study (Baromètre Santé, Institut national pour l'éducation à la santé [INPES]). METHOD: Fourteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-four adults aged from 18 to 65years old were interviewed by telephone and "subjects with severe sleep disorders in the last 8 days" were isolated and compared with the others regarding sociodemographic and occupational aspects and with regard to psychiatric disorders. The sleep items were extracted from the Duke and WHOQOL (brief form) questionnaires. Depressive disorders were recognized based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Short-Form (CIDI-SF) and the ISD 10. RESULTS: Among the subjects, 12.5% were concerned. Women, young or subjects after 45, low income, employees and unemployed categories had significantly more sleep disorders. Sleep disorders in the last 8 days were also significantly linked to previous depressive episodes, anxiety disorders and history of suicide. CONCLUSION: Assessing sleep disorders in the last 8 days seems to be a good method to identify severely affected subjects in general population surveys.