The Association Between Feeding Habits, Nutritional Parameters and Quality of Sleep in Hemodialysis Patients

OBJECTIVE: Poor sleep and sleep-related breathing disorders are common in hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, it is not well known whether there is a relation between nutritional habit and quality of sleep. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between quality of sleep and nutritional characteristics. MATERIAL and METHODS: The study population included 84 HD patients. Data were collected with the questionnaire developed by the researchers and included questions about socio-demographic features, biochemical findings, and anthropometric data. RESULTS: The quality of sleep was poor in 51.2% of the patients. These patients were relatively older than the patients with good quality of sleep (44.0 +/- 13.0 and 37.4 +/- 11.8 year respectively, p<0.001). The patients with the good quality of sleep consumed significantly more meat-offal-cheese-egg (p<0.01) and fruit (p<0.05). The patients with the poor quality of sleep had significantly lower albumin (p<0.01), pre-albumin (p=0.02) and total lymphocyte counts (p=0.02). The patients who more frequently had gastrointestinal complaints (especially abdominal discomfort and flatulence) had the poor quality of sleep. CONCLUSION: There are some associations between sleep quality and nutritional aspects. Nutritional habits should be evaluated in HD patients having poor sleep quality.