Comparison of subjective sleep quality in patients with cancer and healthy subjects.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To compare the subjective sleep quality of a group of patients with cancer undergoing treatment and a normative sample of healthy comparison subjects.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of data from a single time point in a repeated measures descriptive-correlational study.

SAMPLE/SETTING: Convenience sample of 15 patients with cancer receiving antineoplastic therapy and admitted to a tertiary university medical center for fever or neutropenia and 52 healthy comparison subjects without sleep disturbances. Although both groups were of similar age, a higher percentage of men comprised the comparison group.

METHODS

Patients completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) on the first day of hospitalization to reflect their perceptions of sleep for the month prior to hospitalization. Healthy comparison subject scores on the PSQI were obtained from a published report outlining psychometric properties of the PSQI (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989).

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES

Sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, medication use, daytime dysfunction, and global sleep quality.

FINDINGS

Patients with cancer reported significantly poorer overall sleep quality accompanied by more daytime dysfunction. The incidence of specific sleep disturbances, such as snoring and dyspnea, was not different between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

This small sample of patients reported significantly poorer sleep quality than an historical comparison group. Specific sleep disturbances commonly seen in the general population were not problematic for the patients with cancer. Limited sample size and use of an historical comparison group need to be considered in interpreting and applying these findings. Additional research is needed to further characterize the nature of sleep problems in patients with cancer.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE

Nurses need to assess sleep in their patients, including its impact on quality of life and functional status.