Sleep Issues Are Common in Hospitalized Patients

Inadequate sleep is common among hospitalized patients and may lead to worse outcomes, according to a new study.

For their study, the researchers evaluated 2005 patients aged 18 years or older in 39 hospitals in the Netherlands. All patients included in the study had spent at least 1 night in a regular-care hospital ward.

The primary outcomes were the quantity and quality of the previous night’s sleep in the hospital compared with habitual sleep at home in the month preceding hospitalization.

Sleep-disturbing factors were examined using complementary questions, and the Consensus Sleep Diary and the Dutch-Flemish Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Sleep Disturbance item bank were used.

Results of the study showed that the average total sleep time in the hospital was 83 minutes compared with habitual sleep at home, and the average number of nocturnal awakenings in the hospital was 3.3 compared with 2.0 at home. In addition, patients tended to wake up 44 minutes earlier than at home.

A total of 1344 (70.4%) patients were awoken by external causes. Of these, 718 (34.8%) concerned hospital staff.

Based on the results of PROMIS questions, all aspects of sleep quality were found to be worse during hospitalization than at home. The noise of other patients, medical devices, pain, and toilet visits as the most commonly reported sleep-disturbing factors.

“This study demonstrated that the duration and quality of sleep in hospitalized patients were significantly affected and revealed many potentially modifiable hospital-related factors negatively associated with sleep,” the researchers wrote.

“Raising awareness about the importance of adequate sleep in the vulnerable hospital population and introducing interventions to target sleep-disturbing factors may improve healing,” they concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Wesselius HM, van den Ende ES, Alsma J, et al. Quality and quantity of sleep and factors associated with sleep disturbance in hospitalized patients [Published online July 16, 2018]. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.2669