- Explain to interested patients that natural disasters can have differing effects on individuals and their sleep habits.
- This study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.
MINNEAPOLIS, June 13 -- Insomnia among men was an apparent sequel to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, researchers said here.
"Our data shows an increase in the number of male patients and insomnia complaints after Katrina, despite an overall decrease in initial sleep medicine evaluations," said psychiatrist Denise Sharon, M.D., Ph.D., of Tulane and the Sleep Medicine Center of the Gulf Coast in Destrehan, La.
In a poster presentation at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting, she said that in the four months before Katrina hit the city, 21 patients had sought medical treatment for insomnia, five of them men. In the four months immediately after Katrina, with a sharply reduced population, 13 patients sought medical help for insomnia, six of them men.
"We aren't sure why we are seeing such a high percentage of men now compared with before the storm hit," she said.
