In a study exploring insomnia among adolescents, as many as one in four reported one or more symptoms of insomnia nearly every day in the previous month, and nearly half of these had sleep disturbances a year later.

“Insomnia is chronic in our society and is chronic among adolescents,” Dr. Robert E. Roberts of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston told Reuters Health.

Moreover, he said the prevalence of insomnia among adolescents “rivals that of depression and other mental health problems.”

Roberts and colleagues assessed information collected from 3,134 boys and girls age 11 to 17 years. All had participated in Teen Health 2000, a study involving youths enrolled in HMOs in the Houston metropolitan area.

Initially, more than 27 percent of the youths’ reported having one or more symptoms of insomnia over the previous 4 weeks, the investigators report in the journal Sleep.

Symptoms included trouble falling asleep, waking in the middle of the night and having trouble getting back to sleep, frequent nighttime wake/sleep patterns, waking up very early, or “nonrestorative” sleep.

When assessed a year later, 46 percent had one or more of these symptoms and 35 percent had at least one symptom plus daytime fatigue or sleepiness.

Even after excluding those reporting disorders potentially associated with insomnia, such as mood, anxiety, and substance use, the investigators found that 24 percent of the youths had symptoms of chronic insomnia.

Independent predictors of insomnia included being female, having limitations due to health, as well as stress associated with mothers and school.

Most adolescents need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night, Roberts said. The current findings suggest that insomnia is not only a major public health problem, but a major chronic disease affecting a substantial portion of the adolescent population.

SOURCE: Sleep, February 2008.