UCSF

Perioperative sleep disturbances may impact healing and negatively affect the patients perception of well-being. Therefore, accurately assessing postoperative sleep characteristics is necessary to treat sleep disturbances. This study is a secondary data analysis of research investigating the association between sleep and cognition in a perioperative setting. This study compares sleep characteristics between the St. Marys Hospital Sleep Questionnaire and WatchPAT, a portable sleep apnea testing device. The goal of this study is to compare an objective measurement of sleep quality (WatchPAT) with a traditional questionnaire. One hundred and one patients who underwent elective, noncardiac surgical procedures wore a WatchPAT and completed the St. Marys Hospital Sleep Questionnaire for three nights: two preoperative and one postoperative night. In the preoperative period, a Bland-Altman analysis showed an agreement Watch PAT and the St Marys hospital sleep questionnaire except for sleep fragmentation. A good to fair correlation during the preoperative period was observed with both sleep latency and total sleep time. In the postoperative period, no correlation was observed between the St. Marys Hospital Sleep Questionnaire data and WatchPAT data. Our study indicates that some potential factors affecting sleep and cognition such as admission type, depression, anesthesia type, and sleep apnea may limit patients ability to report their sleep characteristics after surgery. Therefore, relying solely on one sleep assessment method is not advisable.