Sleep quality of mother-caregivers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients

Background Sleep disturbance is a common problem for caregivers. In general, patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) use noninvasive ventilation to maintain quality of life and improve survival. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD and factors that are associated with their sleep quality. Methods We evaluated 32 caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD and 32 mothers of sons without any neuromuscular or chronic disease (control-CTRL group). The evaluation of quality of sleep was made using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results Caregiver-mothers had poor sleep quality, specifically longer sleep latency and reduced sleep efficiency. The impaired sleep quality of the caregiver-mothers was associated with the length of time of noninvasive ventilation used by their sons. Conclusions Our results suggest that caregiver-mothers of sons with DMD have poor quality of sleep, and the length of use of noninvasive ventilation of their sons is associated with better sleep of caregiver-mothers.