In patients with CKD, fatigue, lack of energy, and drowsiness are the most common symptoms that result in the poor health-related quality of life, a patient’s comprehensive perception of physical and mental health. To examine whether sleep duration may affect health-related quality of life in individuals with CKD, Kyu-Beck Lee, of Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul and colleagues examined data from 1910 adults in the Korean Cohort Study for Outcome in Patients with CKD, a study designed to identify risk factors related to CKD and its outcomes.

The team found that 7-hour sleepers had the highest health-related quality of life, based on survey scores. There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and health-related quality of life so that those who slept ≤5 hours/day or ≥9 hours/day had a lower health-related quality of life.

“Our findings suggest that short or long sleep duration is independently associated with low health-related quality of life in adults with CKD. Sleep duration is an important predictor of health-related quality of life in CKD,” said Dr. Lee. Additional studies are needed to determine whether promoting optimal sleep among patients may improve their health outcomes.