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Sleep disturbances in a Canadian population with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Objective/purpose

To compare the self-reported prevalence of sleep duration and quality in patients with asthma, chronic bronchitis (CB), or undefined COPD in the Canadian population.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey was done using the Public Use Microdata File Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) Questionnaire for Cycle 1.1 (2000-2001). Ninety-eight percent of the Canadian population was represented by a sample of 133,000 persons, aged 12 or older.

Findings

A higher frequency of difficulty falling or staying asleep most of the time was observed in people with asthma (19.1%), chronic bronchitis (29.7%), or COPD (30.9%) compared to the general population (GP: 12.8%). Fewer patients with these conditions reported finding their sleep "refreshing" most of the time (A: 50.7%; CB: 42.1%; COPD: 45.1%) compared to those without these ailments (62.3%). A difference was also observed in regard to difficulty in staying awake most of the time during the day (A: 8.3%; CB: 10.5%; COPD: 11.0%; GP: 5.7%) and in the degree to which chronic fatigue was reported (A: 1.7%; BC: 3.2%; COPD: 5.2%; GP: 0.8%). Canadians with asthma and COPD report more sleep disturbance and chronic fatigue than healthy people.

Deliverables

Eventually, this study will be published in a journal and will be presented at both national and international conferences.

Relevance

This study will help optimize treatment in respiratory diseases. A better knowledge base will result in better treatment. Asking questions about quality of sleep will provide physicians with a better understanding of their patient. This type of question will indicate to them how the disease impacts patient's lives.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Cormiers, A.D., Boulet, L. Sleep disturbances in a Canadian population with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). All Asth Clin Immun 6 (Suppl 3), P14 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1710-1492-6-S3-P14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1710-1492-6-S3-P14

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