Sleep Quality and Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients with Cancer

Sleep problems and fatigue are common symptoms reported by cancer patients. In this study, the researchers used a specialized tool to measure fatigue in cancer patients and its relationship with sleep quality in Yazd, Iran.

This descriptive correlational study included 149 cancer patients (age range: over 18 years) referred to Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd, Iran. Data were collected by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Cancer-Related Fatigue Questionnaire. A PSQI score of ≥5 indicated a poor sleep. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 13.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), Pearson’s correlation, t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression.

The mean (SD) PSQI score of patients was 13 (4.85) out of 21. About 69.3% of patients had a poor sleep quality. While the mean (SD) of sleep duration was 5.57 (0.54) hours, it was 69.44 (46.58) minutes for sleep latency. Also, with increasing the mean of sleep quality, the mean of fatigue significantly increased (P<0.001, R=0.63).

According to the results, there was a relationship between the sleep quality and fatigue in cancer patients, so that patients with better sleep quality had less fatigue.