Assessment of sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in a group of elderly people

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the quality of sleep and daytime sleepiness of a group of elderly people, checking whether there is an association with physical activity, presence of chronic disease, and Body Mass Index (BMI) and whether there is a correlation with BMI, age and quality of life. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study. To assess sleep quality, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESE) was used to assess daytime sleepiness, and the WHOQOL-BREF was used to assess quality of life. 47 elderly people were evaluated with a median (interquartile range 25-75%) of 66 (62-70) years of age and BMI of 28.58 (26.21-30.44). 74.5% had poor sleep, 61.7% had Normal Daytime Sleepiness and 97.8% classified as having a good quality of life, with emphasis on the domains of social relationships (80%) and self-assessment of quality of life (80%). There was only a statistically significant association between the presence of poor sleep quality and the practice of physical activity. There was no association between the presence of poor sleep quality or sleepiness with BMI and the presence of chronic disease. There was a weak, negative and statistically significant correlation only between sleep quality and quality of life (ρ=-0.466) and age (ρ=- 0.297). It is concluded that the elderly had poor sleep quality, normal daytime sleepiness and good general quality of life.

Keywords

• sleep deprivation
• sleep-wake transition disorders
• elderly health
• quality of life