Sleep Quality in End Stage Renal Disease Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in a Tertiary Care Center in Rural Kanyakumari

Introduction: End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) has increased in prevalence worldwide, becoming a major public health problem. About 80% of ESRD patients have subjective complaints of poor sleep.Poor sleep quality can potentially affect their quality of life and the pattern of medication use. Hence this study was designed to evaluate the quality of sleep in patients undergoing haemodialysis and to determine associated risk factors. Method: This cross sectional study was carried out among 110 ESRD patients in the dialysis unit of Kanyakumari hospital. Patients previously diagnosed with neuropsychiatric disorders, sleep apnoea or epilepsy were excluded. An investigator-administered structured questionnaire was used. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. A global PSQI score of more than 5 indicates poor sleep quality. Results: Mean age of ESRD patients was 52.7 years. About 71% of the patients were males. Majority of the patients (68.2%) had pre-existing Diabetes and Hypertension. Almost all of the patients (97.3%) had a PSQI score of more than 5 and were ‘poor sleepers’. About 94.7% patients had not used sleep medications at all. Increasing age and multiple morbidity were found to be statistically significant risk factors of poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Almost all of our subjects had poor sleep quality sleep and only few of them sought treatment for the same. Early detection of poor sleep quality will help in better management of sleep disorders among ESRD patients.