Analysis: Insomnia costs thousands

MINNEAPOLIS, June 12 (UPI) -- Insomnia is expensive for the patient and for the employer of the person who has trouble getting to sleep at night.

Researchers said Monday that a worker who suffers from insomnia costs his or her employer more than $3,000 a year in health costs compared with employees who don't have problems sleeping.

The insomniac also pays twice as much out of pocket as a co-worker who falls asleep when the head hits the pillow.

"Insomnia is associated with a substantial cost of illness, which can be a large financial liability to employers," Richard Brook, director of business development for consulting firm The JestaRx Group of Newfoundland, N.J., told United Press International at the 21st annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.

In the analysis of medical data collected on 510,000 employees from retail, service, manufacturing and finance industries, Brook and colleagues determined that the average cost of health benefits for employees with insomnia is $6,240 compared with an annual cost of $3,015 for employees who do not have the sleep disorder.

That difference of $3,225 per employee with insomnia reaches to as much as $20 billion a year when considering the U.S. civilian workforce, said Brook.

The researchers scoured the Human Capital Management Services Research Reference Database, which contains employee data from 2001-2006 from multiple U.S.-based employers. Data from medical and payroll records was collected as well as incidences of work absence where available and employee demographics. Employees were identified with insomnia based on history of hypnotic drug use or diagnosis of a sleep disorder.

"Direct medical costs, excluding prescription medications, contributed almost half of the total incremental costs, while indirect costs such as sick leave and short-term and long-term disability represented 27 percent of the total incremental costs," he said.

Breaking it down further, he said the average insomniac compared with the average worker without insomnia:

-- Accrued healthcare costs of $3,306 vs. $1,749.

-- Accrued prescription drug costs of $1,220 vs. $422.

-- Accrued sick leave costs of $720 vs. $325.

-- Accrued short-term disability costs of $465 vs. $229.

-- Accrued long-term disability costs of $46 vs. $10.

-- Accrued workers' compensation costs of $483 vs. $280.

The study was supported by Takeda Global Research and Development in Deerfield, Ill.

In a second study at the conference being attended by more than 5,300 healthcare professionals, Kathleen Foley, a researcher leader for Thomson Medstat in Ann Arbor, Mich., found that patients with insomnia spend about $1,000 a year in out-of-pocket healthcare charges while patients who don't have the sleep disorder spend about $448 a year.

Foley said that unadjusted health costs paid for insomnia patients were more than three times higher -- $8,978 as opposed to $2,790 for employees who did not have trouble getting to sleep.

Even after adjusting for possible confounding problems, insomniacs spend 50 percent to 75 percent more in out-patients costs and 70 percent to 100 percent more in prescription costs. Mental health-related costs were also about seven times higher for people with insomnia compared with those who did not have insomnia.

Her study was supported by Eli Lilly Co. in Indianapolis.

"These results indicate an opportunity for improved management of patients with insomnia that may reduce costs from an employer and societal perspective," Brook said.