Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze and elucidate the factors related to sleep-wake patterns of the frail elderly. The subjects were 76 elderly patients (17 male, 59 female) in a long-term care hospital in a prefecture. Fifty-nine day's sleepwake patterns of the subjects were examined through a sleep log recorded by nurses and care workers. The relationship between sleep parameters and sleep-related factors, which included age, gender, Barthel Index, HDS-R, sleep-inducing drugs, and frequency of participation in activity care programs, was analyzed. Factors of age, Barthel Index, HDS-R, and frequency of participation in activity care programs were significantly related to the sleep parameters. Results of multiple linear regression analysis revealed that most sleep parameters were influenced by the factor of frequency of participation in activity care programs. These results suggest that patients' participation in activity care programs may improve sleep-wake patterns in the frail elderly.
