Poor sleep health and quality of life among caregivers of patients with prostate cancer

Undergoing cancer treatment can drastically change a patient's quality of life. 1 Balancing the physical, emotional and financial needs of a patient with cancer can cause significant distress for family members/caregivers, who support the patient through the treatment process. 2 Previous studies have shown high rates of sleep disturbances and hypnotic medication use among cancer survivors. 3 For instance, patients with prostate cancer (PCa) may suffer from increased nocturia, other lower urinary tract symptoms, hot flashes, pain, anxiety and depression that present additional challenges to optimal sleep. 4 Although prior studies have demonstrated that being a caregiver is associated with poor health outcomes across multiple domains, few studies have specifically studied quality of life among caregivers of patients with PCa or the impact of caregiving on sleep. 5 There are many potential reasons why caregivers to men with PCa may experience sleep disturbances, including psychological and physical stress. The survey also included the validated Caregiver Quality of Life Index – 2Cancer (CQOLC) scale (where lower scores indicate worse quality of life) and the Short Form-12 survey (SF-12, measuring mental and physical wellbeing standardized to a score of ‘50’ to represent collated data from the general US population). [...]we found high rates of insomnia, high risk of sleep apnoea, poor sleep quality and poor quality of life among caregivers of patients with PCa.