Abstract Introduction Individuals with ostomies commonly report poor sleep quality years after ostomy surgery; however, little is known about the trajectory of insomnia and objective sleep characteristics in the early postoperative period. The purpose of this study was to describe the trajectory of insomnia and sleep characteristics in the first 3 months following ileostomy surgery. Methods We conducted a prospective, observational feasibility study of adults (18-65 years) undergoing ileostomy surgery. Sleep characteristics were obtained via Garmin smartwatches (vívosmart® 5) worn from 2 weeks to 3 months postoperatively. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to elicit insomnia severity perioperatively and at postoperative months 1, 2, and 3. Descriptive and univariate statistics were used. Results We enrolled 22 participants Mean age 41.55 years (SD 10.77), 10 female (45.5%), 19 White (86.4%), 9 colorectal cancer (40.9%), and 8 inflammatory bowel disease (36.3%). There was little change in insomnia severity from the perioperative period (mean = 9.95, SD 5.57) to 3 months after surgery (∆ = 0.76). At the time of ostomy surgery, most participants (n = 13, 59.1%) had insomnia (ISI≥8). Fifteen participants completed the postoperative surveys. Of those, 2 participants (13.3%) experienced resolution of insomnia symptoms, 3 participants (20%) continued to report no insomnia symptoms, 5 participants (33.3%) developed new insomnia symptoms, and 5 (33.3%) experienced persistent insomnia symptoms. There was little change in sleep duration (m = 462.10 min, SD = 79.07, ∆ = -24.1), deep sleep (m = 81.21 min, SD = 16.97, ∆ = -8.01), light sleep (m = 297.93 min, SD = 44.26, ∆ = -3.93), REM sleep (m = 82.82 min, SD = 44.50, ∆ = -12.02), wake after sleep onset (m = 51.87 min, SD = 29.93, ∆ = -3.05), or sleep score out of 100 (m = 59.15, SD = 11.83, ∆ = -1.74) from month 1 to month 3 after surgery. Conclusion Individuals undergoing ileostomy surgery experience symptoms of insomnia which often persist throughout the early postoperative period. Future research should explore the impact of insomnia on ostomy outcomes and should test interventions to treat insomnia in the early postoperative period. Support (if any) LabfrontXGarmin
Al-Saleh et al. (2026) studied this question.