Factors associated with the sleep disturbances of people with breast cancer during chemotherapy in China: A cross-sectional study.
Wenjuan Zhu, Wanling Li, Jinnan Gao and 3 others
PMID 37099665WHAT IT FOUND
Poor sleep was reported by 27.0% before, 32.5% during, and 39.2% after chemotherapy in Chinese women with breast cancer.
Nurses should screen sleep, anxiety, and emotional and informational support, especially in patients aged 45 to 65 years.
Key findings
01Significant sleep disturbance was reported by 27.0% of patients before chemotherapy, 32.5% during chemotherapy, and 39.2% after chemotherapy.
02Patients with HADS anxiety scores above 8 were 3.52-fold more likely to have poor sleep quality than patients without anxiety.
03Each increment in emotional/informational support score was associated with a 9.6% reduction in the risk of poor sleep quality.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was single-centre and used convenience sampling, so the women who took part may not represent all breast cancer patients in China. It was cross-sectional, so it showed associations between sleep, anxiety, age, and support, not that anxiety or low support caused poor sleep. The authors used a PSQI cut-off of 8, while some earlier studies used a cut-off of 5, and they suggested this may explain lower sleep disturbance rates than the 60% to 90% prevalence cited in the introduction. No longitudinal data were collected to track how sleep, hope, anxiety, depression, and social support changed over time.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Shanxi Province 136 Revitalization Medical Project Construction Funds. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social support or reducing anxiety will improve sleep. This was a cross-sectional survey, and the study did not test any intervention.