Use of sleeping pills highest among older Americans: CDC

Older U.S. adults, particularly women, are more likely to use prescription sleep medications to try to get the minimum seven hours of sleep experts generally recommend, U.S. data released on Thursday showed.

Use of such pills, which include Sanofi SA's Ambien and other similar drugs, was significantly higher for those in their 50s as well as age 80 and older, according to the findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Overall about 8.6 million people, or 4 percent of U.S. adults reported recently using sleep medication, CDC's National Center for Health Statistics said in a report.

But data showed higher use among middle-aged adults ages 50 to 59 and the elderly.

Six percent of those ages 50 to 59 said they had taken a prescription sleep pill in the last 30 days, and 7 percent of those age 80 and older reported such use. In between, the numbers dip slightly below 6 percent for those in their 60s and 70s.

In comparison, just 2 percent of those aged 20-39 said they had recently taken a sleep aid.

CDC researcher Yinong Chong said people in their 50s could have trouble sleeping because of work and family stress.

More than 10 million prescriptions for sleeping pills are given each year in England, but medication only offers short-term relief.

Non-drug treatments have been under-used, but sleep experts say that they offer the best long-term solutions to chronic insomnia.

Professor Kevin Morgan of Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre says that sleeping tablets treat the symptoms of insomnia, not its causes.

He's been researching psychological treatments for insomnia. He focuses on behavioural change and self-help to promote better sleeping patterns.

It was always assumed that if people had insomnia alongside a more serious condition, then curing that illness would cure the insomnia. These days, insomnia is generally treated as a separate illness.

"It gives the picture of a sandwiched group who has family, not only children but also probably elderly parents but still you're likely to be in the workforce, so you get squeezed at both ends in terms of family responsibility and job responsibility," she said.

Sleep may improve when people retire before potential chronic health problems kick in and begin interfering with sleep, Chong said, adding more study is needed.

The data also showed that 5 percent of women surveyed said they had recently taken a sleep aid compared to about 3 percent of male respondents, according to CDC's report. Chong said it was not clear why women were more likely to use the drugs.

While previous data have tracked prescriptions dispensed for sleep aids, the CDC said its study is the first based on a survey of actual use of such drugs.