Sleep duration linked to health-related quality of life in chronic kidney disease patients

May 4 2018

Sleep disorders are prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease.

A new study indicates that sleep duration may influence the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) experienced by individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

In patients with CKD, fatigue, lack of energy, and drowsiness are the most common symptoms that result in poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL), a patient's comprehensive perception of physical and mental health. To examine whether sleep duration may affect HRQOL in individuals with CKD, Kyu-Beck Lee, MD (Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea) and colleagues examined data from 1910 adults in the Korean Cohort Study for Outcome in Patients with CKD (KNOW-CKD), a study designed to identify risk factors related to CKD and its outcomes.

The team found that 7-hour sleepers had the highest HRQOL, based on survey scores. There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and HRQOL so that those who slept ≤5 hours/day or ≥9 hours/day had lower HRQOL.

"Our findings suggest that short or long sleep duration is independently associated with low HRQOL in adults with CKD. Sleep duration is an important predictor of HRQOL in CKD," said Dr. Lee. Additional studies are needed to determine whether promoting optimal sleep among patients may improve their health outcomes.