Medicalization of sleep problems in an ageing population: a longitudinal cross-national study of medication use for sleep problems in European older men and women

Recent societal changes have created the opportunity for a medicalization of sleep. Since the prescription of medication is the most common health care intervention in older patients we will study to what extent a process of medicalization regarding sleep problems is found in an ageing European population. The first (2004/2005), second (2006/2007) and fourth (2011/2012) wave of SHARE are used to perform generalized linear mixed models with three levels –country (N=18), individual (N=76,395) and period (N=109,506)-, the dependent variable being whether or not one takes medication for sleep problems at least once per week. The results suggest that over time sleep problems are increasingly being medicalized. Women, compared to men, and ageing individuals are more likely to medicalize their sleep problems. Moreover, both having been depressed and having been treated for depression, as well as the number of visits to a physician are associated with a higher likelihood of using medication for sleep problems, which shows that medicalization is a social learning process that is learned within a lifecourse.Recent societal changes have created the opportunity for a medicalization of sleep. Since the prescription of medication is the most common health care intervention in older patients we will study to what extent a process of medicalization regarding sleep problems is found in an ageing European population. The first (2004/2005), second (2006/2007) and fourth (2011/2012) wave of SHARE are used to perform generalized linear mixed models with three levels –country (N=18), individual (N=76,395) and period (N=109,506)-, the dependent variable being whether or not one takes medication for sleep problems at least once per week. The results suggest that over time sleep problems are increasingly being medicalized. Women, compared to men, and ageing individuals are more likely to medicalize their sleep problems. Moreover, both having been depressed and having been treated for depression, as well as the number of visits to a physician are associated with a higher likelihood of using medication for sleep problems, which shows that medicalization is a social learning process that is learned within a lifecourse.C