Short Sleep Duration and Its Correlates among Cancer Survivors in Korea: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

Abstract

Background: Though a large proportion of cancer survivors are assumed to be commonly affected by sleep disturbance, few studies have focused on short sleep problems and its correlates among Korean cancer survivors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of short sleep in adult cancer survivors from a nationwide population-based sample and to identify risk factors for short sleep duration. Materials and Methods: Based on the fourth and fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007-2012), 1,045 cancer survivors and 33,929 non-cancer controls were analyzed. The prevalence of short sleep was compared between these two groups. Associations between short sleep and its correlates were evaluated using multiple logistic regression among cancer survivors: odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were estimated after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, lifestyle factors, psychological conditions, and cancer-related factors. Results: About 8.1% of cancer survivors slept for less than 5 hours per day (6.2% men and 9.3% women), whereas this was the case for only 3.7% of non-cancer controls. Cancer survivors who had the lowest household income level showed a significantly higher likelihood for short sleep (adjusted OR 2.82, 95%CI 1.06-7.54). Self-reported poor health and depressive symptoms were found to be associated with significantly increased likelihood for short sleep in cancer survivors (adjusted OR 3.60, 95%CI 1.40-9.26 and adjusted OR 2.00, 95%CI 1.17-3.42). Gastric cancer survivors had a 3.97-fold increased risk for short sleep (95%CI 1.60-9.90). Conclusions: The prevalence of short sleep occurs at a high rate among the Korean cancer survivors, which may indicate a poorer quality of life and a higher risk of future complications in survivorship. Targeted interventions that can assist cancer survivors to cope with sleep disturbances as well as ensuring psychological stability are warranted to reduce the latent disease burden.

Food Habits, Lifestyle Factors, and Risk of Prostate Cancer in Central Argentina: A Case Control Study Involving Self-Motivated Health Behavior Modifications after Diagnosis

“…Petrov et al (2014) found that 9.6% of their subjects used prescribed sleep medications and 11.1% used over-the-counter sleep aids [ 90 ]. Analogous to other investigations, where cancer patients presented sleep disturbances after cancer diagnosis and treatment [ 91 ], both cancer groups of our study significantly increased the consumption of sleep medications (up to 44.7% of men with other cancers) and antidepressants (up to three times more than at baseline), possibly associated with cancer-related fatigue and depression cluster conditions [ 92 ]. However, management of sleep and depression includes also non-pharmacological approaches.…”

Association of Short Sleep Duration with Psychological Conditions in Cancer Survivors: From the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

“…Described elsewhere in detail, the KNHANES is a nationally representative survey to investigate the health and nutritional status of Koreans [4,7]. Brief information on the KNHANES is summarized as follows: since 1998, this ongoing surveillance system has been carried out every year; non-institutionalized civilians aged one and over are selected by using a multi-stage clustered probability sampling design; and three component surveys-the Health Interview, the Health Examination, and the Nutrition Surveys are conducted by well-trained medical staff [7].…”

“…Brief information on the KNHANES is summarized as follows: since 1998, this ongoing surveillance system has been carried out every year; non-institutionalized civilians aged one and over are selected by using a multi-stage clustered probability sampling design; and three component surveys-the Health Interview, the Health Examination, and the Nutrition Surveys are conducted by well-trained medical staff [7]. Among the 63,301 respondents who were targeted for KNHANES IV and V, about 79.6% participated in surveys [4], from an initial study samples totaling from KNHANES IV and V cycles, people who were under 19 years of age or those with missing information on the history of cancer diagnosis, sleep duration, and psychological conditions (i.e., severe distress, self-reported prevalence of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt) were excluded. A final total of 34,909 subjects, including 1,042 cancer survivors and 33,867 non-cancer controls, were selected for analyses.…”

“…Following the global phenomenon, Korea has a cancer prevalence of about 1.2 million cases, and a significant number of individuals with cancer have either been undergoing or completed treatment [2]. Emerging evidence has indicated that cancer survivors are particularly prone to sleep problems, i.e., symptoms of insomnia and sleep disturbance, with a greater prevalence rate than the general population [3,4]. These cancer-related sleep problems appear to impede survivors' daily life and are easily linked to an increased risk for physical and psychological complications [5].…”

Comparison of subjective quality of life after endoscopic submucosal resection or surgery for early gastric cancer

“…Cancer survivors with Type D personality rather than non-type D personality had more pain and general discomfort 12,14 . While poor sleep quality, insomnia, and inadequate sleep time reduced the QoL 15 , high degrees of resilience contributed to a good QoL in cancer survivors 16 .…”