Insomnia prevalence in an oncology patient population: an Irish tertiary referral centre experience

Background

NCCN survivorship guidelines recommend dedicated sleep assessment reflecting its association with increased symptom distress scores and mortality Reported insomnia prevalence in the general Irish population is 15%; reported prevalence internationally amongst new or recently diagnosed cancer patients varies from 23-50%. Insomnia prevalence has not been quantified in an Irish oncology cohort.

Methods

With ethical approval an 8 page questionnaire was prospectively administered to ambulatory cancer patients aged ≥ 18 attending a tertiary referral centre. Pre-specified criteria for insomnia syndrome (IS) combined those of International Classification of Sleep Disorders and DSM-IV. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS-D/A) was used to screen for depression and anxiety as confounding variables. Logistical regression model was used for analysis.

Results

Response rate was 87% (294/337). Median respondent age was 55-64.80% were female. Breast (37%), colorectal (13%) and lung (12.2%) were the most common cancer subtypes. 62% reported sleep disturbance after diagnosis.33% met IS criteria. 60% reported moderate/severe insomnia related distress, 23% a significant impact on physical function. 45% who did not meet criteria had ≥1 of 4 critical features. On univariate analysis female sex, age

Conclusions

Insomnia prevalence in this Irish cohort is comparable to that previously reported and sleep assessment is justified. Alcohol is a modifiable risk factor independently predicting IS. HADS-D/A ≥11 increased OR of IS demonstrating additional utility of this scale. A patient education leaflet on sleep management is in progress to incorporate and reinforce our findings

Clinical trial identification

Legal entity responsible for the study

Dr Emily Harrold

Funding

N/A

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.