title: Differences in sleep disturbance and fatigue between patients with breast and prostate cancer at the initiation of radiation therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the occurrence and severity of sleep disturbance and fatigue between patients with common cancer diagnoses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Study purposes were to evaluate for differences in the occurrence rates of sleep disturbances and fatigue; evaluate for differences in the severity of sleep disturbance using both subjective and objective measures; and evaluate for differences in the severity of self-reported fatigue in patients with breast and prostate cancer at the initiation of radiation therapy (RT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with breast (n=78) and prostate (n=82) cancer were evaluated before the initiation of RT using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, General Sleep Disturbance Scale, Lee Fatigue Scale, and wrist actigraphy. Differences in sleep disturbance and fatigue between groups were evaluated using independent sample t-tests and Chi-square analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occurrence rates for sleep disturbance (P<0.0001) and fatigue (P=0.03) were significantly higher in patients with breast compared with prostate cancer. Patients with breast cancer self-reported significantly higher levels of sleep disturbance (P=0.008) and fatigue (P=0.005) than patients with prostate cancer. However, using actigraphy, patients with prostate cancer had poorer sleep efficiency (P=0.02) than patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on self-report, patients with breast cancer experience sleep disturbance more frequently and with greater severity than patients with prostate cancer. Objective measures of sleep disturbance suggest that prostate cancer patients have more severe sleep disturbance than breast cancer patients. All the patients experienced poor sleep quality and fatigue, which suggests that oncology patients need to be assessed for these symptoms.
authors: School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0610, USA.
authors: Kristin
authors: K
authors: Garrett
authors: Anand
authors: A
authors: Dhruva
authors: Theresa
authors: T
authors: Koetters
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: West
authors: Steven M
authors: SM
authors: Paul
authors: Laura B
authors: LB
authors: Dunn
authors: Bradley E
authors: BE
authors: Aouizerat
authors: Bruce A
authors: BA
authors: Cooper
authors: Marylin
authors: M
authors: Dodd
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Lee
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Wara
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Swift
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Miaskowski
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005221:Fatigue / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications*