Sleep characteristics of the parents of children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit: risk factors and repercussion on their daily life activities

• Main Authors: Miriam García, Gema Manrique, Sarah N. Fernández, Yolanda Puerta, Patricia Paredes, Alba M. Corchado, Ana B. García-Moreno, Brian Jiménez, Santiago Mencía
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
• Series: Sleep Medicine: X
• Subjects: Sleep disorders; Parents; Critical illness; Children; Pediatric intensive care unit
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590142720300094

Objective: to analyze the sleep characteristics of the parents of children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), the possible risk factors and impact of sleep quality on their daily life activities. Methods: Parents of children admitted to PICU for at least 48 h filled in a survey. Demographic data, sleep characteristics before and during admission and its impact on daily life activities measured by the FOSQ-10 questionnaire, were collected. Results: 100 surveys from parents of 53 children admitted to the PICU were collected. Most children (74%) were cardiac patients. 55% of them had had previous PICU admissions. 45% of parents lived in a different city. They spent a median of 14 h a day (IQR 12–16) at the hospital and 89.2% did not attend work. Parents had significantly worse subjective sleep quality (p = 0.001), less sleeping hours/day (p = 0.001), more difficulty falling asleep (p = 0.001) and more night arousals (p = 0.001) during PICU admission than before. 77% of parents also had a bad FOSQ-10 score. Perceived sleep quality and FOSQ-10 score had a good correlation (p = 0.00, Kappa 0.43). Significant risk factors were living in a different city (p = 0.03), programmed admissions (p = 0.001), previous PICU admissions (p = 0.001), prolonged PICU length of stay (p = 0.03) and longer distance from home (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Three quarters of the parents of children admitted to PICU suffer from sleep disorders, which negatively affects their personal lives. Perceived sleep quality had a good correlation with FOSQ-10 score. Institutional support is needed to optimize parents’ resting conditions during their child's hospitalization.