Understanding sleep disturbances in African‐American breast cancer survivors: a pilot study

Abstract

Objectives The goals of this study were (i) to report the prevalence and nature of sleep disturbances, as determined by clinically significant insomnia symptoms, in a sample of African-American breast cancer survivors; (ii) to assess the extent to which intrusive thoughts about breast cancer and fear of recurrence contributes to insomnia symptoms; and (iii) to assess the extent to which insomnia symptoms contribute to fatigue. Methods African-American breast cancer survivors completed surveys pertaining to demographics, medical history, insomnia symptoms, and intrusive thoughts about breast cancer, fear of cancer recurrence, and fatigue. Hierarchical regression models were performed to investigate the degree to which intrusive thoughts and concerns of cancer recurrence accounted for the severity of insomnia symptoms and insomnia symptom severity's association with fatigue. Results Forty-three percent of the sample was classified as having clinically significant sleep disturbances. The most commonly identified sleep complaints among participants were sleep maintenance, dissatisfaction with sleep, difficulty falling asleep, and early morning awakenings. Intrusive thoughts about breast cancer were a significant predictor of insomnia symptoms accounting for 12% of the variance in insomnia symptom severity. After adjusting for covariates, it was found that insomnia symptom severity was independently associated with fatigue accounting for 8% of variance. Conclusions A moderate proportion of African-American breast cancer survivors reported significant problems with sleep. Sleep disturbance was influenced by intrusive thoughts about breast cancer, and fatigue was associated with the severity of participants' insomnia symptoms. This study provides new information about sleep-related issues in African-American breast cancer survivors.

Exploring the Relationship Between Fear of Cancer Recurrence and Sleep Quality in Cancer Survivors

“…Findings from this study suggest that, "I worry about my cancer coming back" better represents FCR (and potentially IT about cancer recurrence) for the participants than the cancer worry subscale as a whole. This significant result is confirmed by a previous pilot investigation (Taylor et al, 2012) that examined sleep disturbance in African American breast cancer survivors. Specifically, findings from Taylor et al (2012) indicated that intrusive thoughts related to cancer, which are a component of FCR, were a significant predictor of insomnia.…”

“…This significant result is confirmed by a previous pilot investigation (Taylor et al, 2012) that examined sleep disturbance in African American breast cancer survivors. Specifically, findings from Taylor et al (2012) indicated that intrusive thoughts related to cancer, which are a component of FCR, were a significant predictor of insomnia. Results from the study reported here provide support to Lee-Jones and colleagues' (1997) multidimensional construct of FCR, including IT as a proposed mechanism for the relationship between FCR and poor sleep quality because of the significant relationship between the statement "I worry about my cancer coming back" and poor sleep quality.…”

“…Sleep disturbance and FCR are listed among the top five concerns for cancer survivors of mixed diagnoses (Ness et al, 2013), and yet few studies have explored the relationship between FCR and sleep quality (Taylor et al, 2012). Sleep disturbance is a significant clinical issue in cancer Fear of Cancer Recurrence and Sleep Quality 299 survivorship.…”

Factors causing insomnia in postmenopausal women

“…the results of taylor et al's studies indicate that respondents suffered from serious sleep disorders. Increase in insomnia symptoms occurred with negative thoughts about the cancer the respondent was diagnosed with [28].…”

Distress, circadian rhythms, immunity, and survival in presurgical breast cancer patients.

“…Differences in sleep have also been observed in a sample of presurgical breast cancer patients, the night prior to surgery intrusive thoughts were associated with less sleep duration and lower sleep efficiency (Wright, Schnur, Montgomery, & Bovbjerg, 2010). In breast cancer survivors, intrusive thoughts were shown to be related to self-reported symptoms of insomnia (Taylor et al, 2012).…”