A survey on insomnia in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Abstract

e19553 Background: Patients with cancer report insomnia frequently. However the true prevalence of insomnia in patients with cancer in general and in patients with lung cancer in particular has not been adequately described. Therefore we conducted a prospective study to determine the prevalence of insomnia and identify associations between insomnia and other clinical variables in patients with lung cancer. Methods: Anonymous surveys based on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were made available to lung cancer patients in the waiting rooms of the oncology clinics at Siteman Cancer Center. Results: Of the 152 patients, who completed the survey, the majority were women 87 (58.4%) and the median age was 63 years (range 16-85 years). The study population was predominantly Caucasians accounting for 78%. NSCLC was the most common lung cancer subtype 86 (56.6%), followed by SCLC 23 (15.1%) and unknown 43 (28.3%). Insomnia was reported by 68 (46.3%) patients. Seventy-nine (52.7%) patients reported suffering from at least one of the following: anxiety, depression and fatigue (ADF). Fifty-one (33.5%) patients were on treatment for ADF. In addition, 42 (28.4%) patients reported a pain score of ≥ 5 on a subjective scale of 1 to 10 and 92 (62%) were on medications for pain control. Significant clinical insomnia characterized by an ISI score of ≥ 15 was reported by 25 (12.2%) patients and severe insomnia (ISI score ≥ 22) was reported by 5 (3.4%) patients. Patients reporting depression were more likely to suffer from insomnia than patients without depression; 61.5% vs. 40.7%; p = 0.04. A similar relationship was identified between insomnia and patients reporting fatigue; 69.7% vs. 39.5%; p = 0.002. Current smokers were more likely to suffer from insomnia than never smokers with lung cancer; 64.1% vs. 47.1% (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Nearly half of all patients with lung cancer in this survey reported insomnia. In addition, patients who were depressed and current smokers were more likely to report insomnia in our survey than those without depression or current tobacco smoking. No significant financial relationships to disclose.