Faculty Collaboration Database

Associations between longitudinal changes in sleep disturbance and depressive and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 virus pandemic among older women with and without breast cancer in the thinking and living with breast cancer study. Cancer Med 2022 Sep;11(17):3352-3363

Date

03/23/2022

Pubmed ID

35315588

Pubmed Central ID

PMC9110906

DOI

10.1002/cam4.4682

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85126759179 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   7 Citations

Abstract

PURPOSE: Several studies have reported sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Little data exist about the impact of the pandemic on sleep and mental health among older women with breast cancer. We sought to examine whether women with and without breast cancer who experienced new sleep problems during the pandemic had worsening depression and anxiety.

METHODS: Breast cancer survivors aged ≥60 years with a history of nonmetastatic breast cancer (n = 242) and frequency-matched noncancer controls (n = 158) active in a longitudinal cohort study completed a COVID-19 virus pandemic survey from May to September 2020 (response rate 83%). Incident sleep disturbance was measured using the restless sleep item from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). CES-D score (minus the sleep item) captured depressive symptoms; the State-Anxiety subscale of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory measured anxiety symptoms. Multivariable linear regression models examined how the development of sleep disturbance affected changes in depressive or anxiety symptoms from the most recent prepandemic survey to the pandemic survey, controlling for covariates.

RESULTS: The prevalence of sleep disturbance during the pandemic was 22.3%, with incident sleep disturbance in 10% and 13.5% of survivors and controls, respectively. Depressive and anxiety symptoms significantly increased during the pandemic among women with incident sleep disturbance (vs. no disturbance) (β = 8.16, p < 0.01 and β = 6.14, p < 0.01, respectively), but there were no survivor-control differences in the effect.

CONCLUSION: Development of sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 virus pandemic may negatively affect older women's mental health, but breast cancer survivors diagnosed with the nonmetastatic disease had similar experiences as women without cancer.

Author List

Bethea TN, Zhai W, Zhou X, Ahles TA, Ahn J, Cohen HJ, Dilawari AA, Graham DMA, Jim HSL, McDonald BC, Nakamura ZM, Patel SK, Rentscher KE, Root J, Saykin AJ, Small BJ, Van Dyk KM, Mandelblatt JS, Carroll JE

Author

Kelly E. Rentscher PhD Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Anxiety
Breast Neoplasms
Depression
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Pandemics
Sleep
Sleep Wake Disorders