Endometrial cancer survivors' sleep patterns before and after a physical activity intervention: A retrospective cohort analysis

Objective: To identify the baseline sleep patterns of endometrial cancer survivors and examine the impact of a physical activity intervention on their sleep quality via retrospective secondary analysis. Methods: Early-stage endometrial cancer survivors participated in a 6-month single-arm exercise intervention using printed materials, telephone-based counseling, and pedometers to encourage adherence to exercise guidelines. Participants completed questionnaires evaluating their sleep (PSQI), physical activity (CHAMPS), quality of life (SF-36), and stress (PSS) at baseline and study completion. Results: Ninety-five survivors had PSQI data at both time points. Mean age was 57.1 years (range, 25–76). Mean body mass index was 34.3 kg/m². The majority were non-Hispanic white (75%) and had stage I disease (80%). At baseline, most survivors (61%) had poor sleep quality (PSQI > 5), with 24% reporting fairly or very bad sleep. The majority (63%) slept <7 h/night. At least once during the preceding month, 83% had an episode of daytime dysfunction. A pairwise comparison showed that obese survivors had more sleep disturbances than normal weight survivors (p = 0.029). No other clinicodemographic factors were associated with sleep. In unadjusted analyses, sleep quality significantly improved in women who increased weekly total or moderate/vigorous physical activity (p = 0.004 and p < 0.050, respectively). This association persisted after adjusting for the potential covariates of age, time since diagnosis, obesity status, disease stage, and treatment (p = 0.026). Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that poor sleep is common and detrimental to endometrial cancer survivors. Increasing exercise may improve this dysfunction and should be investigated as part of a prospective study.