A comparative study of the quality of sleep in patients in the ward: Pre and postsurgery in a tertiary care hospital in South India

Abstract

Background: Sleep deprivation has a deleterious effect on recovery in postoperative patients as it can lead to potentially dangerous side effects. The stress of poor sleep along with surgical stress can lead to increased sympathetic activity, which causes increase in catabolic processes, wakefulness, postoperative fatigue, hemodynamic instability, and neurological dysfunction, all of which will adversely affect postoperative recovery of patients. Aims and Objectives: (i) To compare the quality of sleep in patients, pre and postsurgery. (ii) To identify factors causing postoperative sleep disturbance. (iii) To discuss management strategies for improving postoperative sleep quality in surgical patients. Materials and Methods: The study included sixty patients admitted in the general surgical ward, with participants selected by convenience sampling. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess pre- and post-operative sleep quality and scores were compared to assess various components of sleep. Comparisons were also drawn with respect to difference in sleep according to age, sex, type of anesthesia administered, history of past use of sleep medications, and room type. Results and Conclusion: Our study showed poor postoperative sleep quality across all subgroups, i.e., age, sex, use of sleep medications, type of anesthesia administered, and room type. During the postoperative period, subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, and sleep disturbance worsened along with reduced duration of sleep, without significant changes in the habitual sleep efficiency and day-time dysfunction. Sleep is an extremely important physiological requirement for recovery after surgical stress. By identifying which component of sleep is being affected more than others, targeted interventions can be designed by the way of pharmacological or non-pharmacological methods to effectively combat sleep disturbance in surgical patients.