Sleep deficiency among people living with human immunodeficiency virus: A growing challenge

The purpose of this narrative review is to consolidate and summarize the existing literature on sleep deficiency among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH), to discuss the potential impact of antiretroviral therapy on sleep deficiency and to identify priorities for future research in this area.

Three important domains of sleep deficiency include alterations in sleep quality (including sleep disorders), duration and timing. The existing HIV and sleep deficiency literature, which is robust for sleep quality but sparser for sleep duration or sleep timing, has identified epidemiological correlates and outcomes associated with sleep deficiency including sociodemographic factors, HIV-specific factors, aspects of physical and mental health and cognition.

Sleep deficiency is a common problem among PLWH and is likely underdiagnosed, although more high-quality research is needed in this area. Sleep quality has received the most attention in the literature via methodologies that assess subjective/self-reported sleep quality, objective sleep quality or both. There is significantly less research on sleep duration and minimal research on sleep timing. Use of certain antiretroviral therapy drugs may be associated with sleep deficiency for some individuals. Future research should utilize larger, longitudinal studies with consistent, comprehensive and validated methods to assess both subjective and objective measures of sleep deficiency to better understand the prevalence, correlates and clinical implications of sleep deficiency in PLWH.