From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-360984-853313
BALTIMORE (UPI) -- Poor sleep is a problem in long-term breast cancer
survivors, which can hurt overall quality of life, Indiana University
researchers said.
Study author Julie L. Elam of Indiana University studied 246 breast
cancer survivors with an average age of 48 years with an average of
5.62 years post-treatment. Seventy-six percent of the participants
were Caucasian, 73 percent employed, 73 percent married or partnered,
70 percent postmenopausal, 58 percent with a college education and 43
percent with at least one concurrent medical problem. The women
completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a self-rated
questionnaire that assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a
one-month interval.
The study found 65 percent of breast cancer survivors scored at or
above the cut-off for poor sleep. Breast cancer survivors with hot
flashes, with high physical functioning and high depressive symptoms
were more likely to have poor scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality
Index.
The findings, presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the American
Academy of Sleep Medicine, indicated that sleep disturbances were
problematic in long-term survivors with physiological and
psychological predictors of poor sleep.