Sleep and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

This study described sleep in a heterogeneous sample of breast cancer patients using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and examined the relation between sleep disturbance and health-related quality of life as measured by the Rand 36-Item Health Survey. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy were explored as predictors of sleep disturbance in breast cancer patients, and the sleep characteristics of breast cancer patients were compared to the sleep characteristics of a sample of medical patients with general medical conditions. Results showed that 61% of breast cancer patients had significant sleep problems. Sleep was characterized by reduced total sleep time with sleep frequently being disturbed by pain, nocturia, feeling too hot, and coughing or snoring loudly. Despite the frequency of significant sleep disturbance, pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral treatments of sleep problems were observed to be inadequate. Limited evidence was found for the role of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in the sleep disturbance of breast cancer patients, and the general pattern of sleep disturbance in breast cancer patients was not significantly different than that observed in medical patients with general medical conditions. Breast cancer patients having significant sleep problems had greater deficits in many areas of health-related quality of life. The implications of the findings and study limitations are discussed.

Sleep disturbances and emotional distress in the acute course of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…This corresponds to other studies. 15,30,42,43 However, the directions of these relationships are not known; it seems to be likely that sleep quality and the selected physical/psychological variables reciprocally influence each other and are co-occurring, respectively. Our study showed no significant associations between changes in anxiety and depression and changes in sleep quality, which are present in the general population.…”

The impact of breast cancer treatments on sleep quality 1 year after cancer diagnosis

“…Poor sleep quality is an important contributor to low healthrelated quality of life [5,6] and is estimated to affect up to 70% of breast cancer patients [7], depending on the method of sleep assessment and study design used. Although a high proportion of breast cancer patients may present sleep disturbances before beginning treatment [8,9], cancer treatment has been associated with the occurrence of sleep disturbances among women with breast cancer [10,11].…”

The relative importance of specific risk factors for insomnia in women treated for early‐stage breast cancer

“…For example, a recent report found that of women who had completed treatment for breast cancer reported non-specific sleep problems [3,7], 19% met criteria for insomnia syndrome which was chronic in 95% of cases [3,7], and 23−44% reported insomnia 2−6 years after receiving their breast cancer diagnosis [8,9]. Despite its elevated prevalence and potential impact on quality of life (QOL) [4,7,10,11] insomnia in cancer has only recently begun to receive attention and little is known about risk factors for insomnia in this population [4].…”

“…stage [3,52], treatment [3,11]), physical health/symptoms (e.g. physical health [10,14,53], pain [52,53], vasomotor symptoms [8,54], GU symptoms [11]), fatigue [53,55,56], light exposure [57], and other variables identified as linked with insomnia in the general population (e.g. being widowed/separated [3], lower education [52], poor social support [52], depression/psychological distress [52,53]).…”