Poor Sleep Quality and Its Influencing Factors Among Iranian Patients with Esophageal and Gastric Cancer

Sleep quality is a notable factor of well-being. It also may play a role in the development and progression of chronic diseases and cancers. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate poor sleep quality and its influencing factors among Iranian patients with esophageal and gastric cancer.

In this cross-sectional study, a total of 312 Iranian adult patients who suffered from esophageal and gastric cancers were employed from a gastrointestinal cancer-based cohort study conducted in a referral hospital in Tehran between 2015 and 2018. Persian version of the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to measure poor sleep quality. Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were applied to determine the related factors to poor sleep quality.

Of the participants, 203 (65.06%) were men, and 75.96% had gastric cancer. The mean age was 63.13 ± 12.10 years. The results demonstrated that more than 62% of the patients had poor sleep quality. 148 (62.44%) patients out of 237 patients with gastric cancer had poor-quality sleep. Also, 46 (64.38%) patients out of 237 patients with esophageal cancer had poor-quality sleep. Based on the results of multiple logistic regression models, marital status has a negative association with poor sleep quality (odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, P = 0.015). In addition, having chronic disease (OR = 2.16; P = 0.028) and wealth index (OR = 3.11, P = 0.013; OR = 3.81, P = 0.003; OR = 3.29, P = 0.009; OR = 3.85, P = 0.003 for rich, moderate, poor, and poorest subgroups, respectively) had a positive association with poor sleep quality.

The findings showed that about two-thirds of the patients studied were poor sleepers. Also, it was observed that marital status, chronic disease, and wealth index were important factors associated with poor sleep quality.