Prospective repeated assessment of self-reported sleep quality and sleep disruptive factors in the intensive care unit: acceptability of daily assessment of sleep quality

INTRODUCTION: Despite the importance of sleep, the assessment of sleep quality does not form part of standard clinical care in intensive care unit (ICU). Continuous assessment of self-reported quality of ICU patients’ sleep has been strongly recommended. Prior to implementing such an assessment in the ICU, it is important to assess the acceptability of this method of assessment to the ICU’s patients. The aims of this study were to assess the acceptability to ICU patients of completing daily self-reports on sleep quality during their ICU stay and to assess ICU patients’ self-reported sleep quality and sleep disruptive factors during their time in ICU. METHODS: An observational prospective-repeated assessment was conducted on n=120 patients in an ICU in Saudi Arabia. The participants were both intubated and non-intubated. OUTCOMES MEASURES: Over a 3-month period, sleep quality was assessed using the Arabic version of the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ-A), and self-reported sleep disruptive factors were identified. Clinical factors, such as ICU interventions, and previously administered sedatives were also examined. The patients’ acceptance of completing daily RCSQ-A reports was assessed using various indicators of acceptability. RESULTS: A total of 381 self-reports (RCSQ-A) were collected for this analysis. The patients reported 34.4±5.60, indicating that sleep quality was poor on average. The group of intubated patients reported much poorer sleep quality during intubation than after extubation. In the multivariate analysis, factors which most significantly affected sleep (exp(b), p value) were midazolam (−6.424, p<0.0005), propofol (−3.600, p<0.05), noise (−1.033, p<0.05), gender (1.836, p<0.05), daytime sleepiness (0.856, p<0.05) and the presence of mechanical ventilation (−1.218, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The acceptability and feasibility of using daily RCSQ-A for sleep quality assessment was demonstrated. Sleep quality was reported as poor by all participants and the factors affecting sleep were varied. This study provided various recommendations for healthcare providers and researchers in terms of evaluating and improving sleep quality in ICU patients.