Prevalence of Orthosomnia in a General Population Sample: A Cross-Sectional Study

Orthosomnia has become a concern in the field of sleep medicine. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the prevalence of orthosomnia in the general population.

We collected data from 523 participants via the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Anxiety and Preoccupation about Sleep Questionnaire, and Athens Insomnia Scale. Additionally, we gathered information about participants' use of commercial sleep-tracking wearable devices.

We developed a four-criteria algorithm to identify cases of orthosomnia: ownership of a wearable sleep-tracking device, AIS score ≥ 6, GAD-7 score ≤ 14, and APSQ score ≥ 40 or APSQ score ≥ 35 or APSQ score ≥ 30, for conservative, moderate, and lenient prevalence estimates, respectively. One hundred seventy-six (35.8%) (95% CI 34.6-40.1%) participants regularly used sleep-tracking devices. The prevalence rates of algorithm-identified orthosomnia in the study sample were: 16 participants (3.0%, 95% CI 1.6-4.5%), 45 participants (8.6%, 95% CI 6.2-11.0%), 73 participants (14.0%, 95% CI 10.9-16.9%) for the for conservative, moderate, and lenient prevalence estimates, respectively. Individuals with orthosomnia were not significantly different in terms of age and sex. The cases consistently had higher AIS scores than non-cases across all APSQ cutoffs, indicating more severe insomnia symptoms, with significant differences observed at each cutoff point.

This study offers initial insights into the prevalence of orthosomnia within our sample at a specific time. The findings reveal notable rates of orthosomnia among individuals using sleep-tracking devices; however, we must acknowledge the limitations inherent in a cross-sectional design.