Sleep Disturbances and Delirium

Delirium is a frequent and serious problem in hospitalized patients; it is associated with multiple hospital-acquired complications. There is evidence that the incidence of deliri-um may be minimized by multimodal interventions (pain management, shortening the duration of mechanical ventilation, light sedation, avoiding benzodiazepines, routine delirium monitoring, and early mobilization). Even though a clear association between sleep and delirium has not been established, many studies suggest that sleep disturban-ces may be a key risk factor for the development of delirium. Therefore, sleep promoti-on is becoming an integral part of clinical care. The project support the hypothesis that non-pharmacological preventive interventions promoting sleep (sleep protocol) positive-ly influence the quality of sleep and reduce the incidence of delirium in hospitalized patients. This will be verified by qualitative and quantitative research methods, with the quantitative study being divided into three prospective cross-sectional studies and one interventional study. Data will be obtained from 3240 hospitalized patients by combi-ning subjective methods (questionnaire surveys) and objective measurements (acti-graphy). The project outcomes will allow better understanding of the relationship betwe-en sleep and delirium. A set of non-pharmacological preventive interventions promoting sleep will be developed, with a subsidiary aim to potentially reduce the incidence of delirium in hospitalized patients.

Sleep is one of the most important physiological needs. Sleep disturbances have detri-mental effects on practically all systems and may thus prolong recovery of patients. Studies have documented many similarities between clinical and physiological profiles of patients with delirium and sleep disturbances (ischemia/inflammation, hypoxia, neu-rotransmitter imbalance and tryptophan/melatonin metabolism abnormalities). There is still a lack of strong evidence to support the link between poor sleep and delirium, par-ticularly in hospitalized patients, even though available studies suggest that sleep dis-turbances may be a potential key risk factor for its development, which may have a significant clinical impact. Low awareness of the negative impact of sleep disturbances on the organism and the options for improving sleep may influence the attitude of health professionals to fulfilling this basic human need.The aim of the study is to assess the quality of sleep in patients staying in general wards and intensive care units, identify disruptive factors responsible for its reduced quality, evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and delirium and verify the effectiveness of preventive measures (sleep protocol) in clinical practice. The aims of the study will be met by combining the fol-lowing methods qualitative research, a cross-sectional analytical study and an interven-tional study. The quantitative part of the research will be divided into three consecutive cross-sectional analytical studies. The aim of cross-sectional study I will be to assess the diagnostic properties of the selected instrument (FIRST) for identification of patients predisposed to situational sleep disturbances. This will be immediately followed by cross-sectional study II aimed to identify factors most disrupting sleep of hospitalized patients and, subsequently, by cross-sectional study III subjectively and objectively as-sessing sleep quality and its relationship with delirium, this phase also will be an evalua-tion of routine care (PRE phase), which will be smoothly followed by intervention stud-ies.. The quantitative part is divided into the three cross-sectional studies not only to meet the subgoals and ensure seamless continuity but also because of the patient sam-ple. The patient subgroups are diverse, being specified in detail for each study and se-lected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria.