Sleep Disturbances Among Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in Taiwan

Abstract

Sleep disturbances are a common health problem among lung cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the congruence between 2 typical measures of sleep, that is, a sleep log and actigraphy, for 7 consecutive days in non-small-cell lung cancer patients in Taiwan. We used a cross-sectional research design to assess sleep patterns among 39 non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Measurements included a 1-week daily sleep log and wrist actigraphy. Sleep disturbance in this study was defined as one or more of the following: sleep-onset latency of more than 30 minutes, waking episodes per night in excess of two, a total sleep time of 6.5 hours or less, or sleep efficiency of 85% or less. Both the 1-week daily sleep log and wrist actigraphy demonstrated that sleep disturbances were common among these patients (85% and 97%, respectively). Congruence between the 1-week daily sleep log and wrist actigraphy was high (87%), but there were significant differences between the 2 measures of waking episodes. Researchers should be cautious when comparing sleep disturbance rates between studies that use different methods for assessing sleep disturbance. Results from this study have a potential to facilitate assessment of sleep disturbances in lung cancer patients.