Evaluating Patterns and Factors Related to Sleep Disturbances in Prostate Cancer Patients

Prostate cancer patients may experience disturbed sleep as a result of their diagnosis or treatment. This study sought to evaluate disturbed sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness in newly diagnosed patients and those receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). This study was conducted with 74 patients. Subjective data using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and actigraphy data on ADT/ADT-naive patients were collected. The prevalence of poor sleep quality, determined from PSQI and ESS scores, was 50% and 16.7% respectively. Those on ADT (n = 20) had poorer sleep quality as determined by significantly higher PSQI scores (70 vs. 40% scoring > 5) and were more likely to have poor sleep quality, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency than ADT-naive patients (n = 40). Actigraphy data showed that ADT patients slept significantly longer (7.7 vs. 6.8 h), experienced a higher Fragmentation Index (48.3 vs. 37.4%), and had longer daytime nap duration (64.1 vs. 45.2 min) than ADT-naive patients. The use of objective measures such as actigraphy in the clinical arena is recommended and may be used as a valuable tool for research into sleep assessment in prostate cancer patients.

Automated summary

This study evaluated sleep disturbances in prostate cancer patients, especially those receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The results showed that ADT patients had poorer sleep quality, longer sleep duration, higher sleep fragmentation, and longer daytime napping compared to ADT-naive patients.