Abstract
To investigate the relationship between somatic symptoms and sleep disturbances, 61 patients on hemodialysis were requested to fill out a questionnaire. Most of these patients reported sleep disturbances. Forty patients (67.8%) had difficulty in falling asleep, and 58 (95.1%) in maintaining sleep. Early awakening was found in 55 patients (90.2%), and lack of a sound sleep in 45 (75.0%). Sleep disorders were more frequent in men than women. And interestingly, sleep disorders were more frequent in patients being treated with hypnotics than in those without such treatment. Vascular pain was the most frequent complaint during a dialysis session, reported by 27 patients (34.4%), and headache, lumbago, palpitation and pruritus were other frequent complaints. Pruritus, reported by 14 patients, headache, joint pain, tiredness, lumbago, restless legs, and irritability were the frequent complaints in their daily life. With prolonged hemodialysis therapy, the number of patients complaining of vascular pain was increased. The same tendency applied to joint pain in daily life. Most of the patients with no somatic symptoms reported no sleep disturbances. Furthermore, somatic symptoms such as joint pain, pruritus, and restless legs appeared to be associated with sleep problems. With reference to psychiatric symptoms, patients diagnosed as having depression assessed by SDS (self-rating depression scale) showed a high incidence of sleep disorders and somatic symptoms. We conclude that psychiatricsymptoms, sleep disturbances and somatic symptoms are relevant to each other and this point should be carefully considered for patients under treatment.
