Sleep and Trauma Effects of the Earthquake: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Gülşen Ulaş Karaahmetoğlu, Zeynep Arabaci
PMID 40186455WHAT IT FOUND
Earthquake survivors reported poor sleep and significant trauma effects.
Trauma exposure and sleep were linked only very weakly, so trauma alone did not account for most sleep problems.
Key findings
01The 428 participants had a mean sleep quality score of 11.10 ± 3.44, indicating poor sleep quality.
02Mean trauma scores were 57.93 ± 16.3 total, 27.44 ± 8.14 for trauma exposure, and 30.50 ± 8.91 for coping with trauma.
03Trauma exposure scores were linked to sleep scores only weakly, and they explained 1.2% of the change in sleep scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study measured survivors at one point between April and July 2023, so it cannot show how sleep and trauma changed over time or prove cause and effect. The authors state the findings are limited to the statements of the sampled survivors and cannot be generalised. Participants were reached through WhatsApp links and face-to-face visitors, so the sample may not represent all earthquake survivors. The relationship between trauma exposure and sleep was very weak, and trauma scores explained only 1.2% of sleep score change, so trauma alone does not account for most sleep problems.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that earthquake trauma caused poor sleep, or that treating trauma will fix sleep. This was a cross-sectional survey, and the trauma-sleep link was very weak.