2021 Volume 35 Article ID: 35_91_ura
Objective: We clarified the characteristics and influencing factors of sleep in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy.
Methods: We conducted a self-description survey on the sleep of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy using PSQI-J. Multiple regression analysis was performed using the variable increase method with age, sex, and five items of influencing factors that showed significant differences between the presence or absence of poor sleep based on the total score of PSQI and each variable as independent variables.
Results: Among 64 subjects with average of 56.4 ± 7.2 years, 52 (81.3%) had gastrointestinal cancer and 41 (64.1%) had stage IV cancer. The use of oral medication was 31.3% for analgesics, 37.5% for steroids, and 12.5% for sleeping pills. The PSQI total score was an average of 5.2 ± 2.9 points. Those with poor sleep had 34.4 ± 24.7 minutes for sleep onset time, 5.9 ± 1.2 hours for actual sleep time, and 84.5 ± 12.6% for sleep efficiency with significant differences. Side effect symptoms were peripheral neuropathy in 42.2%, loss of appetite in 37.5%, fatigue in 35.9%, and pain in 17.2%. Patients with pain and taste disorder had short sleep time and poor sleep with statistical significance. Oral administration of steroids and sleeping pills, pain, and taste disorders were extracted as influencing factors of the PSQI total score (adjusted R2= 0.432).
Discussion: In cancer chemotherapy, sleep is likely to be disrupted due to oral administration of steroids, pain, and taste disorders. Sleeping pills are not effective in promoting sleep onset. These analyses suggest that it is necessary to alleviate pain symptoms in patients with poor sleep.
