Madrid (EuroEFE).- In addition to the impact on health and public health, insomnia and in particular chronic insomnia, which affects 1.8 million Spaniards (6.1%), has a huge social and economic impact, causing an annual loss of 10 703 million euros. 0.8% of GDP.
Thus he concludes international study “The socio-economic burden of insomnia in adults”, prepared by the international non-profit research organization RAND Europe in collaboration with Idorsia to identify and quantify the social and economic burden of this disorder.
To do this, the authors described their indirect economic costs (not related to healthcare) and non-material costs (not directly identified in business transactions, but affecting human health or well-being) in 16 countries: in addition to Spain, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada , USA, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, UK, Sweden and Switzerland.
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, and its most severe form is chronic.which occurs when a person has difficulty falling asleep at least three nights a week for three months.
Adults with insomnia are more likely to be absent from work and less productive; According to the report, one in two have symptoms (172 million people), up to 25% have clinical insomnia (72 million) and 15% have chronic insomnia (42 million).
In terms of indirect costs, chronic insomnia was associated with 11–18 days away from work, 39–45 days away from work, and 44–54 days of total loss of productivity per year.
Thus, in the 16 countries analyzed, the indirect costs of chronic insomnia associated with loss of labor productivity range from 1,600 to 185,000 million euros (total 372,000 million) of GDP, and intangible annual welfare losses range from 1,300 to and 113,300 million ( total 213,600 million).
In the specific case of Spain, the study estimates that 27.4% of the population has symptoms of insomnia. and 10.8% have clinical insomnia.
Meanwhile, 6.1% suffer from chronic insomnia, which is nevertheless the lowest of the 16 countries analyzed, second only to Germany and Austria. The loss of annual labor productivity that this entails for our country is 10,703 million (0.82% of GDP).
Likewise, the study also focused on intangible costs and concluded that affected adults are willing to give up 14% of their annual per capita income in exchange for receiving the same degree of satisfaction with their lives as those without sleep problems. . .
“There is a two-way relationship between sleep and work,” warned Dr. Carmen Bellido Cambron, Occupational Hazard Prevention Coordinator at Castellón Hospital.
Thus, “if you don’t sleep well at night, you won’t be productive during the day and will be more prone to absenteeism from work, you will be 88% more likely to have accidents at work and on the road, you will reduce your productivity, decrease satisfaction work, you will become a source of conflict with colleagues and, without realizing it, harm your physical and mental health.
To mitigate the health and economic consequences of insomnia, the researchers propose that governments and health systems include sleep in national public health strategies.who promote campaigns on the importance of adequate sleep hygiene and introduce systematic early detection of the disorder during routine medical visits through screening.
They also urge them to establish coordinated protocols between different levels of care to ensure patients have timely access to diagnosis and treatment, up-to-date education on the disease in medical schools, and access to and reimbursement for safe pharmacological innovations backed by scientific evidence. .
Edited by Sandra Munisio