Sleep health and quality of life in African American cancer survivors: The Detroit ROCS Cohort.

Abstract

10556 Background: Sleep disturbances are particularly prevalent among cancer survivors, likely attributed in part to anxiety over prognosis, treatment, and associated financial concerns. We know little about prevalence, patterns and predictors of poor sleep health in African American (AA) cancer survivors. Sleep problems may contribute in part to the observed disparities in outcomes in this high-risk population and represents a modifiable target to improve quality of life and longer-term health problems. Methods: The Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors (ROCS) study is a large cohort of AA cancer survivors diagnosed with female breast, prostate, colorectal, endometrial, lung or any other early onset cancer on or after 01/01/2013 in Metropolitan Detroit. We have enrolled 5,073 survivors into the study, each completing a baseline survey with annual follow-up to update medical history, health related quality of life (QoL), and other prognostic factors. In 2021, a supplemental sleep survey was administered to all eligible survivors. The current investigation analyzes sleep, QoL (measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G) survey), and relevant health behavior data from 716 survivors who completed the sleep survey. Sleep health was measured using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Block regression was used to estimate the contribution of clustered factors to QoL. Five blocks were evaluated: sleep health, demographics, cancer characteristics, comorbidities, and health behaviors. Results: Nearly 60% of AA cancer survivors in the study reported symptoms indicative of poor sleep quality (PSQI score 6-21) with 17% reporting excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS score 11-24) and 11% reporting moderate to severe insomnia (ISI score ≥ 15). Sleep disturbances and poor quality of sleep were associated with clinically meaningful declines in QoL, where survivors with ISI scores in the clinical range reported adjusted FACT-G scores 19 points lower than those with ISI score below the clinical range (95% CI -14.7, -22.6). Sleep health accounted for the largest proportion of variability in FACT-G scores (R2= 0.28) and accounted for an additional 19% of the variance over and above the other 4 blocks. Finally, AA survivors reporting regular physical activity also reported better sleep quality in all 3 sleep scales (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A substantial proportion of AA cancer survivors reported poor sleep quality which impacted their QoL. Understanding the determinants of sleep health in this population will lead to the development of interventions aimed at improving quality of life and downstream health consequences in AA cancer survivors.