There is a distinct preponderance of female insomniacs when compared to male insomniacs. The aim of this study was to examine possible gender differences in the causes for insomnia, and the phenotypes of insomnia, and to investigate whether gender-specific insomnia diagnosis and treatment could be relevant in clinical practice. Data were collected from 121 insomniac patients by a medical specialist in the framework of normal clinical practice in Germany. The data consist of the patient's medical history and various sleep-related patient questionnaires. Data from both genders were tested for independence using chi-square tests and Mann-Whitney U tests. We found a correlation between the gender of the patient and insomnia phenotypes in several aspects: concomitant lipometabolic disorders, diabetes mellitus, and high BMIs are more common in male insomniacs (p < 0.05). Frequency of insomnia occurrence in certain age groups, insomnia severity, distribution of SOI (sleep onset insomnia), SMI (sleep maintenance insomnia) and combined SOI + SMI, sleep duration, the time needed to seek medical consultation, trying out sleep-inducing drugs/techniques and the trigger, etiology and familial predisposition of the insomniac disorder were independent of the patient's gender. We would like to re-evaluate the results with a larger number of patients in a further study.
Keywords: gender; gender-specific treatment; insomnia; phenotypes; sleep; sleep disorder.