Sleep quality of patients with postoperative glioma at home

Background: The sleep quality of patients with postoperative glioma at home has not been reported worldwide. In this study, the sleep quality of postoperative glioma patients at home was explored through telephone interviews.

Aim: To investigate the sleep quality of patients with postoperative glioma.

Methods: Glioma patients who were treated and operated on at Nanjing Brain Hospital from May 2012 to August 2019 were selected as participants via convenience sampling. A total of 549 patients were recruited by telephone, and 358 of those patients responded to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Results: The total PSQI score was 5.19 ± 3.39 in all patients with postoperative glioma, which was higher than that of the normal group. There were 135 patients with poor sleep quality (PSQI > 7), which accounted for 37.7% of all respondents. The scores of the seven dimensions of the PSQI were sleep latency (1.22 ± 1.05), sleep disturbance (1.12 ± 0.98), subjective sleep quality (1.03 ± 0.92), habitual sleep efficiency (1.02 ± 0.91), daytime dysfunction (0.95 ± 0.43), sleep persistence (0.83 ± 0.76), and use of sleeping medication (0.25 ± 0.24). The results showed that the subjective sleep quality of the patients who underwent an operation 1-2 years ago was worse than that of the patients who underwent an operation more than 2 years ago (P < 0.05). Older patients had worse sleep latency and sleep duration scores than younger patients (P < 0.05). Sleep disturbance and daytime dysfunction were worse in patients who received postoperative radiotherapy/ chemotherapy (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The sleep quality of patients with postoperative glioma at home is worse than that of normal adults. Moreover, difficulty falling asleep and sleep disorders are common complications among these patients, and age, postoperative duration, and postoperative chemoradiotherapy could affect sleep quality.