Abstract
Risk factors for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) include young age, female sex, nondrinking status, motion sickness, and pregnancy-induced vomiting. Although the association between sleep disorders and CINV has been reported overseas, to the best of our knowledge, few Japanese studies have investigated this subject, and it has not been fully verified. We performed a questionnaire-based survey to investigate the sleep status in breast cancer patients who received epirubicin and cyclophosphamide therapy and to determine the risk factors for CINV. This study included 133 patients with breast cancer who received epirubicin and cyclophosphamide combination therapy for the first time at Yokohama Rosai Hospital between April 2017 and October 2020. The Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire was used to investigate sleep status, and patients with scores ≥ 6 were diagnosed with sleep disorders. We compared the onset of the complete response (CR) rate (ie, no emetic responses and no rescue medication) during the acute and delayed phases with patientsʼ background. In both the acute phase CR group and the delayed phase CR group, the CR rate was significantly lower in young age and sleep disorders (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that sleep disorders were an independent factor in acute CR (odds ratio 0.22) and late CR (odds ratio 0.28). The study suggests that sleep disorders are risk factors for CINV. It is necessary to utilize antiemetic measures considering the risk factors including sleep status.
