Sleep Disturbances in Cancer

One of the major complaints of cancer patients is disturbed sleep. Patients with cancer complain of difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, and non-restorative sleep, before, during, and for years after treatment. Although some studies have explored the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in head and neck cancer patients, and some studies examined limb movements in sleep among breast cancer patients, the majority of sleep studies conducted in cancer patients have almost exclusively examined insomnia. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Lianqi Liu, MD; and Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, are with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, San Diego Healthcare System. Address correspondence to: Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0603; fax 858 552 7536; e-mail sancoliisrael@ucsd.edu. Dr. Liu has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Ancoli-Israel has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships: Arena, Acadia, Cephalon, Sanofi-Aventis, Sepraco, Somaxon, and Takeda: Consultant; and Sepracor and Takeda: Research grant recipient. This study was supported by National Cancer Institute (NCI) CA112035, National Institutes of Health (NIH) M01 RR00827, the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, and the Research Service of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.