Poor preoperative sleep quality is a risk factor for severe postoperative pain after breast cancer surgery

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the effect of preoperative sleep quality on acute postoperative pain in breast cancer patients. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire (PSQI) was used to assess the overall sleep status of women scheduled for unilateral modified radical mastectomy in the past month. Based on the responses, patients were allocated to good sleep group or poor sleep group. Postoperatively, acute pain was assessed using the numerical rating score in the first 24 hours; in addition, the requirement of analgesics and the incidence of postoperative complications were recorded. A total of 108 breast surgery patients were enrolled. Based on the PSQI results, 55 (51%) patients were allocated to poor sleep group and 53 (49%) to good sleep group. Pain scores were similar in the 2 groups at the end of surgery ( P = .589); however, poor sleep group reported higher postoperative pain scores than the good sleep group at 2 ( P = .002), 6 ( P < .001), 12 ( P < .001), and 24 ( P = .002) hours after surgery. The incidence of severe pain in the poor sleep group was higher than that in the good sleep group (27% vs 8%, P = .018), and the ratio of participants who required rescued analgesics was greater in the poor sleep group (52% vs 22%, P = .002). In addition, patients with poor sleep quality had more postoperative complications and longer hospital stay. In this study, breast cancer patients with poor preoperative sleep quality reported more severe postoperative pain, required more analgesics, experienced more complications, and had longer hospital stay.