Factors Influencing Sleep Quality in Open-Heart Patients in the Postoperative Intensive Care Unit

Open-heart patients often experience sleep problems postoperatively. This cross-sectional study is aimed to investigate open-heart patients' sleep quality and its influencing factors during intensive care. A consecutive sample of 117 eligible open-heart patients was recruited from an intensive care unit (ICU) of a general hospital. Data were collected using questionnaires. The respondents were 22-88 years, with a median age of 60.25 (13.51). Seventy-nine (67.5%) respondents were male. Most respondents reported a low-to-moderate postoperative pain level (average pain score = 2.02; range: 0-10). The average anxiety score was 4.68 (standard deviation [SD] = 4.2), and the average depression score was 6.91 (SD = 4.52; range: 0-21). The average sleep efficiency index was 70.4% (SD = 10.74%). Most (95.7%) respondents had a sleep efficiency index below 85%, indicating that most patients did not sleep well in the ICU. Linear regression analysis showed that the key predictors of the sleep quality of open-heart patients in the ICU were wound pain (β = -1.9) and noise disturbance (β = -1.86). These results provide information on sleep quality and the factors affecting postoperative patients in the ICU. These findings can be used as a reference for developing relevant interventions.