Background: A lot of patients with end stage renal disease with the necessity of renal replacement therapy have some sleep problems. The aim of this study was to get basic information about the sleep of patients treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), mainly their subjective view on their sleep, including comparison with hemodialyzed patients (HD).
Methods: All patients treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in two dialysis centres were given a simple questionnary containing 20 questions concerning sleep. It was filled in by all these patients--25 patients (mean age 58.1 years)--12 men and 13 women. Data obtained from 103 hemodialyzed patients from the same two-dialysis centres were used for comparison (mean age 60.4 years)--61 men and 42 women (the same questionnary).
Results: 40% of CAPD patients regard their sleep as bad. Thirty six percent of patients have problems with falling asleep, 32% awake three times or more during the night and 28% snore or have some breath problems. CAPD patients feel more frequently tired after the night (32% vs. 18.4% HD), more patients sleep during the day (64% vs. 5.15% HD) and fewer patients feel restlessness of legs (36% vs. 45.6% HD). These differences are not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Occurrence of sleep disorders and their characteristics in patients on CAPD is similar to that in hemodialyzed patients.