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Impaired sleep affects quality of life in children during maintenance treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an

Raphaële R L van Litsenburg1, Jaap Huisman, Peter M Hoogerbrugge

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. litsenburg@vumc.nl

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
|April 19, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric cancer patients experience more sleep problems and lower quality of life (QoL). Addressing sleep issues, including pain and worry, may improve QoL for these children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Oncology
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Quality of Life Research

Background:

  • Increasing survival rates in pediatric cancer highlight the importance of late effects and quality of life (QoL).
  • Disturbed sleep is a common observation in pediatric cancer patients, yet research remains limited.
  • Sleep problems are linked to significant morbidity and reduced QoL, necessitating further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess sleep patterns and QoL in children undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
  • To explore the relationship between sleep disturbances, pain, worry, and overall QoL in this population.
  • To determine if dexamethasone treatment impacts sleep and QoL.

Main Methods:

  • A multi-center study involving children aged 2-18 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
  • Utilized the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 3.0™ (PedsQL).
  • Assessed sleep and QoL during and after dexamethasone treatment (on-dex and off-dex).

Main Results:

  • Children with ALL reported more sleep problems and lower QoL compared to normative data.
  • No significant differences in sleep or QoL were observed between on-dexamethasone and off-dexamethasone periods.
  • Pain and worry were moderately associated with poorer sleep.
  • Reduced overall QoL correlated with impaired overall sleep, sleep anxiety, delayed sleep onset, daytime sleepiness, and night awakenings.

Conclusions:

  • Impaired sleep appears to be a contributing factor to reduced QoL in children undergoing cancer treatment.
  • Enhanced counseling and treatment for sleep problems could potentially improve QoL in pediatric cancer patients.
  • Further extensive research is needed to confirm these findings and elucidate the sleep-QoL relationship in pediatric oncology.
Abstract

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