- This month's top three research areas include a total of 5 publications on tumors, 5 publications on endocrinology, and 5 publications on pregnancy and childbirth. These findings have been published in the "Asian Journal of Psychiatry," "BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care".
- Selected Paper in April：Elderly people in Taiwan with insomnia who take sedatives and sleeping pills may increase the risk of frailty.
Insomnia and frailty are common health issues among the elderly. Previous research has indicated that individuals with insomnia are at a higher risk of frailty, and those using sedatives or hypnotic medications face an increased risk of frailty. However, it remains unclear whether there is a synergistic interaction between these factors. The National Institutes of Health research team tracked approximately 5,000 healthy elderly individuals from 2008 to 2013. There was a questionnaire with many health-related questions (including insomnia) and many related measurements (including frailty). Ninety percent of the participants allowed the research team to link their health insurance claims data to obtain information related to medication and medical treatment.
There were 47% had insomnia problems and 70% took sedative or sleeping drugs among the 4,744 elderly people. Both of them increased the risk of frailty, but there was no significant interaction effect. The elderly with insomnia problem: sleep duration greater than 8 hours, daytime sleepiness, and sleep apnea syndrome were associated with a higher risk of frailty. Furthermore, people who took more sedative or sleeping pills had a higher risk of frailty.
The author reminds readers that insomnia-related measurements were subjective narratives of participants, not objective measurements in a sleep laboratory, so the accuracy measurement may be bias. Similarly, taking sedative or sleeping medications was calculated based on health insurance claims data. Some participants without completely adhering to medication instructions may cause some bias. The research team recommends that elderly people use more non-drug interventions to solve the problem of insomnia, which will not increase the risk of frailty.
Highlight of APR (2023) ：The primary focus this month is on studying the side effects of psychotropic medications related to psychosomatic disorders, predicting postpartum depression, and analyzing the association between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
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