Quality of Sleep and Related Factors in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Background: Insomnia is one of the most common problems faced by cancer patients, with approximately 50% of patients experiencing it. Esophageal cancer is the most aggressive and deadly cancer of the digestive system. Patients with esophageal cancer often experience physical side effects that influence the balance between their physiological, psychological, and social states. Aim: The purpose of the study was to investigate what related factors affect the quality of sleep in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study design. This approach involved using the Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (CPSQI), the background information of patients with esophageal cancer and their associated medicinerelated variance data. From March 2, 2015 to April 30, 2015, a deliberate sampling was collected at a medical center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where patients with esophageal cancer were targeted and recruited from an oncology ward, oncology clinics, a joint clinic of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery and esophageal cancer. Results: A total of 100 patients with esophageal cancer participated. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS 18.0. The results showed an average score of 8.03 on the CPSQI, with 65 participants (65.0%) reporting poor quality of sleep. The quality of sleep was also found to be correlated with daily tobacco consumption, the ability to look after one self, and being underweight. According to the multiple linear regression results, the amount of tobacco consumed, self-awareness level, ability to look after oneself, Body Mass Index (BMI), and total score on the Chinese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (CESS) were the most important predictors of the CPSQI quality of sleep. Conclusion: Patients with esophageal cancer encounter quality of sleep problems of varying severity as the disease progresses. Clinical care workers should actively absorb professional knowledge, focus on patients’ health conditions, and provide patients with complete nursing care education and procedures. By doing so, problems relating to quality of sleep in patients with esophageal cancer can be solved, and the overall quality of nursing care can be improved.