Background Sleep disorders are common among patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). This study aimed to assess the perceptions of sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and stress reported by ICU patients and the relationships between these perceptions and patient variables.
Methods This cross-sectional study used consecutive non-probabilistic sampling to select participants. All patients admitted for more than 72 hours of ICU hospitalization at a Portuguese hospital between March and June 2020 were asked to complete the “Richard Campbell Sleep Questionnaire” and “Anxiety, depression, and Stress Assessment Questionnaire.” The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Student t-tests for independent samples, and analysis of variance. The significance level for rejecting the null hypothesis was set to α ≤0.05.
Results A total of 52 patients admitted to the ICU for at least 72 hours was recruited. The mean age of the participants was 64 years (standard deviation, 14.6); 32 (61.5%) of the participants were male. Approximately 19% had psychiatric disorders. The prevalence of self-reported poor sleep was higher in women (t[50]=2,147, P=0.037) and in participants with psychiatric problems, although this difference was not statistically significant (t[50]=–0.777, P=0.441). Those who reported having sleep disorders before hospitalization had a worse perception of their sleep.
Conclusions Sleep quality perception was worse in female ICU patients, those with psychiatric disorders, and those with sleep alterations before hospitalization. Implementing early interventions and designing nonpharmacological techniques to improve sleep quality of ICU patients is essential.
Citations
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Effects of a Multimodal Intervention on Sleep Quality and Duration in Intensive Care Unit Patients Jieun Nam, Sukhee Ahn Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing.2025; 18(1): 70. CrossRef
Frailty and fear of death among geriatric patients in critical care units: A mixed methods study Eman Arafa Hassan, Shimmaa Mohamed Elsayed, Heba Hashem Monged, Basma Taher Abdelwahab Nursing in Critical Care.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Background In this study, we compare the effects of ketamine and the combination of midazolam and morphine on the severity of depression and anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients after discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU).
Methods This randomized single-blind clinical trial included 50 patients who were candidates for craniotomy and postoperative mechanical ventilation in the ICU of 5 Azar Teaching Hospital in Gorgan City, North Iran, from 2021 to 2022. Patients were allocated to two groups by quadruple block randomization. In group A, 0.5 mg/kg of ketamine was infused over 15 minutes after craniotomy and then continued at a dose of 5 µ/kg/min during mechanical ventilation. In group B, midazolam was infused at a dose of 2–3 mg/hr and morphine at a dose of 3–5 mg/hr. After patients were discharged from the ICU, if their Glasgow Coma Scale scores were ≥14, Beck’s anxiety and depression inventories were completed by a psychologist within 2 weeks, 2 months, and 6 months after discharge.
Results The mean scores of depression at 2 months (P=0.01) and 6 months (P=0.03) after discharge were significantly lower in the ketamine group than in the midazolam and morphine group. The mean anxiety scores were significantly lower in the ketamine group 2 weeks (P=0.006) and 6 months (P=0.002) after discharge.
Conclusions Ketamine is an effective drug for preventing and treating anxiety and depression over the long term in patients discharged from the ICU. However, further larger volume studies are required to validate these results.