Quality of sleep among hypertensive patients attending a rural health training centre

Introduction: Sleep is a vital biological, reparative, and restorative phenomenon, and poor sleep has a serious detrimental effect on health. Poor sleep quality is a serious problem as it adversely affects a person's ability to function physically and socially, as well as their potential for profession and quality of life. The degree of hypertension directly affects sleep quality, and poor sleep can exacerbate hypertensive symptoms. This study assesses hypertension patients' sleep quality in a rural health training centre in Chennai. Objectives: 1. To study the prevalence of poor sleep quality among hypertensive patients. 2. To determine the association between selected socio-demographic factors and sleep quality among these patients. Materials and Methods: Hypertensives attending the outpatient department of a rural health and training centre were selected in a systematic manner and administered a semi-structured interview schedule and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire followed by a basic clinical examination. Using the PSQI, they were categorised as having either poor or good sleep quality and the association between selected socio-demographic factors and sleep quality was assessed. Results: Out of the 179 study participants, there were almost equal numbers of male and female participants. The mean age of participants was 57.80 years (standard deviation (SD) = 9.8 yrs.). Among the study participants, 44.13% had completed secondary level of school as an education qualification and 6.70% were illiterate. By the modified BG Prasad classification 2022, most of the study participants (34.08%) came under the class II socioeconomic classification. A large proportion (78.8%) of study participants had poor sleep quality. The difference in sleep quality was observed with respect to gender, socio-economic class, alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI). Conclusion: This observational study shows that individuals with hypertension suffer significantly from poor sleep. A poor quality of sleep was reported by 78.77% of the patients in this study. Statistically significant factors that influenced sleep quality were gender, alcohol consumption and BMI.