Sleep disturbance and delirium in patients with acromegaly in the early postoperative period after transsphenoidal pituitary surgery

Sleep disturbance is a common comorbidity among patients with acromegaly [patients with growth hormone (GH)-secreting tumor] due to somatotropic axis change and sleep apnea. However, no previous studies exist concerning sleep disturbance and delirium in the early postoperative period in patients with acromegaly undergoing transsphenoidal tumor surgery. Herein, we aimed to compare the incidence of postoperative sleep disturbance and delirium in the early postoperative period between patients with GH-secreting and nonfunctioning pituitary tumors. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1286 patients (969 with nonfunctioning and 317 with GH-secreting tumors) without history of psychological disease and sedative or antipsychotic use. We examined the use of antipsychotics/sedatives and findings of psychology consultation within the first postoperative week. Only patients with sleep disturbance noted in medical records were considered to have postoperative sleep disturbance. Patients with an Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist score of 4 or more were considered to have postoperative delirium. The incidence of postoperative sleep disturbance was higher in the GH-secreting group than in the nonfunctioning tumor group (2/969 [0.2%] vs 6/317 [1.9%]; P = .004; odds ratio = 9.328 [95% confidence interval, 1.873–46.452]). Univariable regression analysis showed that only diagnosis (GH-secreting tumor or nonfunctioning tumor) was a risk factor for sleep disturbance, and not sex, age, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status score, surgery duration, anesthesia duration, anesthesia type, tumor size, cavernous sinus invasion, or bleeding. The incidence of postoperative delirium was comparable between the 2 groups (6/969 [0.6%] vs 0/317 [0%]; P = .346). Patients with acromegaly showed increased incidence of sleep disturbance than those with nonfunctioning tumors in the early postoperative period after transsphenoidal tumor surgery. A prospective study evaluating sleep quality in patients with GH-secreting tumors in the early postoperative period could be conducted based on our findings.