Influence of Sleep Disturbance and Depression on Quality of Life in Ovarian Cancer Patients during Chemotherapy

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among sleep disturbance, depression, and quality of life in ovarian cancer during chemotherapy and to identify the influencing effect on quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to measure sleep disturbance, depression and quality of life of 152 ovarian cancer patients between May and July, 2015. The data were analyzed with t-tests, ANOVA, post-hoc comparison (Scheffe), Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.2, and most of them were married. 61.8% of the patients were recurrent, and 50.0% had a performance status of ≤1. The prevalence of poor sleepers was 63.8%, and depression among patients was 52.6%. Sleep disturbance and depression were significantly negatively correlated with quality of life. As a result of stepwise multiple regression analysis, depression, sleep disturbance, monthly income and recurrence were discovered to account for 52.0% of variance. Depression and sleep disturbance were the most important influential factors. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that sleep disturbance and depression should be integrated when developing and implementing psychosocial, behavioral intervention to improve quality of life among ovarian cancer patients during chemotherapy.