Sleep quality of mother-caregivers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance is a common problem for caregivers. In general, patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) use noninvasive ventilation to maintain quality of life and improve survival. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD and factors that are associated with their sleep quality. METHODS: We evaluated 32 caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD and 32 mothers of sons without any neuromuscular or chronic disease (control-CTRL group). The evaluation of quality of sleep was made using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). RESULTS: Caregiver-mothers had poor sleep quality, specifically longer sleep latency and reduced sleep efficiency. The impaired sleep quality of the caregiver-mothers was associated with the length of time of noninvasive ventilation used by their sons. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD have poor quality of sleep, and the length of use of noninvasive ventilation of their sons is associated with better sleep of caregiver-mothers.