Correlation between sleep quality and adverse reactions to chemotherapy, mental health status and quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy

Objective: To analyze the correlation between sleep quality and adverse reactions to chemotherapy, mental health status, and quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: Two hundred and seventy-one eligible breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2023 to December 2023 were selected as the study objects. Patients were assessed using the General Information Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scale, the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), the Symptom Measurement scale, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) scale. Spearman correlation analysis was used to measure the correlation between sleep quality and adverse reactions to chemotherapy, mental health status, and quality of life in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Results: The total incidence of grade I/II/III/IV adverse reactions in the sleep disorder group was higher compared to the normal sleep group (all P < 0.05). The sleep quality of patients with mild adverse reactions was better compared to patients with severe adverse reactions (all P < 0.05). The degree of adverse reactions was positively linked to the total PSQI score (r = 0.531, P < 0.001). The total PSQI score was positively correlated with the total SCL-90 score after chemotherapy, indicating that the worse the sleep quality was, the worse the mental health status of patients (r = 0.513, P < 0.001). The degree of adverse reactions to chemotherapy was positively correlated with the total SCL-90 score (r = 0.542, P < 0.001). After chemotherapy, the total FACT-B score and each status score in patients with sleep disorder were significantly lower compared to normal sleep patients (all P < 0.05). The total PSQI score was negatively correlated with the total FACT-B score after chemotherapy (r = −0.679, P < 0.001). The degree of adverse reactions to chemotherapy was negatively correlated with the total FACT-B score (r = −0.762, P < 0.001). The total SCL-90 score was negatively correlated with the total FACT-B score (r = −0.567, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Sleep disorders are common in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, which interacts with the degree of adverse reactions to chemotherapy, mental health, and quality of life.