Sleep quality in advanced cancer patients

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of advanced cancer patients and its relationship with pain, depression, and hopelessness. Methods: The participants were 102 advanced cancer patients who were on palliative treatment. Patients completed a sleep quality instrument, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); a pain assessment tool, the Greek Brief Pain Inventory; a self-report measure of depression, the Beck Depression Inventory; and, finally, the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Results: Multiple regression analyses (forward method) have shown that hopelessness (P = .003), "interference of pain with mood" (P < .0005), and strong opioids (P = .010) seemed to influence patients' sleep quality (PSQI). In an additional regression analysis (enter method), the PSQI is significantly related to opioids (P = .013), hopelessness (P = .035), and "interference of pain with mood" (P = .004). Conclusion: Hopelessness, pain treatment, and "interference of pain with mood" may influence the quality of sleep in advanced stages of cancer. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.