Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Arch Dis Child. 2018 Feb;103(2):137-142. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2016-312205. Epub 2017 Oct 26.
Family caregivers of children who depend on medical technology (CMT) provide highly skilled care up to 24 hours per day. Sleep disruption places family caregivers at risk for poor health and related outcomes that threaten their long-term caregiving capacity. Few studies exist that have measured sleep in family caregivers, and most have relied entirely on subjective measures.
In a prospective cohort study, family caregivers of CMT (n=42) and caregivers of healthy children (n=43) were recruited. Actigraphy data and a concurrent sleep diary were collected for 6 days/7 nights. Measures of sleep quality, depression, sleepiness, fatigue and quality of life were also administered.
Family caregivers of CMT averaged fewer hours of sleep per night (mean (SD)) (6.56 ± 1.4 vs 7.21 ± 0.6, p0.02) of poorer quality (7.75 ± 2.9 vs 5.45 ± 2.8, p0.01) than the control group. Three times as many family caregivers of CMT scored in the range for significant depressive symptomatology (12(33%) vs 4(10%), p0.01) and experienced excessive daytime sleepiness (16(38%) vs 5(12%), p0.01). Fatigue was also more problematic among family caregivers of CMT (22.12 ± 9.1 vs 17.44 ± 9.0, p0.02).
Family caregivers of CMT are at risk of acute and chronic sleep deprivation, psychological distress and impaired daytime function that may threaten their capacity for sustained caregiving. Family caregivers of CMT may be important targets for screening for sleep disorders and the development of novel sleep-promoting interventions.
依赖医疗技术（CMT）的儿童的家庭照顾者提供 24 小时的高技能护理。睡眠中断使家庭照顾者面临健康状况不佳和相关后果的风险，这些后果可能威胁到他们的长期护理能力。很少有研究测量家庭照顾者的睡眠，而且大多数研究完全依赖于主观测量。
在一项前瞻性队列研究中，招募了 CMT（n=42）的家庭照顾者和健康儿童（n=43）的照顾者。收集了 6 天/7 夜的活动记录仪数据和同时进行的睡眠日记。还测量了睡眠质量、抑郁、嗜睡、疲劳和生活质量。
CMT 的家庭照顾者平均每晚睡眠时间（平均值（标准差））（6.56±1.4 对 7.21±0.6，p0.02）更差（7.75±2.9 对 5.45±2.8，p0.01）。CMT 的家庭照顾者中有三倍的人得分处于显著抑郁症状的范围内（12（33%）对 4（10%），p0.01），并经历过度的日间嗜睡（16（38%）对 5（12%），p0.01）。CMT 的家庭照顾者的疲劳问题也更为严重（22.12±9.1 对 17.44±9.0，p0.02）。
CMT 的家庭照顾者面临急性和慢性睡眠剥夺、心理困扰和日间功能受损的风险，这可能威胁到他们持续护理的能力。CMT 的家庭照顾者可能是筛查睡眠障碍和开发新型促进睡眠干预措施的重要目标。
