Characteristics of sleep in stroke patients

This review examined sleep as a parameter in recovery in stroke patients. The authors concluded that stroke patients have poorer sleep than healthy people.

Sleep is a vital part for both physical and physiological health of all people. Studies have shown that bad sleep has a negative impact on day to day function in healthy people, which could be worse in a population with cognitive problems. There are few studies however, which include sleep as an important parameter in stroke recovery, except for some examining the association of breathing problems during sleep in stroke patients. In addition, slow wave sleep (deep sleep) increases following a cognitive rehabilitation therapy session, which suggests that the two are linked. 

This study aimed to examine the different sleep characteristics between healthy people and stroke patients.  

This review focused on polysomnography (PSG) to measure sleep efficiency in stroke patients compared to healthy people. PSG is a measure of brain function, eye movements, muscle activity and heart rhythm during sleep. The authors reviewed the data from 9 previous studies that used PSG to measure sleep. In total, 276 stroke patients (group 1) were compared to 1194 healthy control people (group 2).

Sleep efficiency (the amount of time asleep versus time in bed) in group 1 was lower at 75% compared to 84% in group 2. Total sleep time was shorter in group 1 (309.4 minutes) than group 2 (340.3 minutes). Wake after sleep onset (waking up during sleep) was greater in group 1 (average of 97.2 minutes) compared to 53.8 minutes in group 2. Patients in group 1 spent more time in stage 1 sleep (light sleep) and less time in slow wave sleep (deep sleep) than group 2.

This study concluded that sleep continuity is poorer in stroke patients than healthy people.

Each of the reviews found focused on stroke patients in early phase recovery. Patients in the chronic state of recovery were not included.