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Sleep quality and asthma control and quality of life in non-severe and severe asthma

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Abstract

Purpose

The effect of sleep quality on asthma control independent from common comorbidities like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is unknown. This study examined the association between sleep quality and asthma control and quality of life after accounting for OSA and GERD in non-severe (NSA) and severe (SA) asthma.

Methods

Cross-sectional data from 60 normal controls, 143 with NSA, and 79 with SA participating in the Severe Asthma Research Program was examined. Those who reported using positive airway pressure therapy or were at high risk for OSA were excluded.

Results

Both SA and NSA had poorer sleep quality than controls, with SA reporting the worst sleep quality. All asthmatics with GERD and 92% of those without GERD had poor sleep quality (p = 0.02). The majority (88–100%) of NSA and SA participants who did not report nighttime asthma disturbances still reported having poor sleep quality. In both NSA and SA, poor sleep quality was associated with worse asthma control and quality of life after controlling for GERD and other covariates.

Conclusions

These results suggest that poor sleep quality is associated with poor asthma control and quality of life among asthmatics and cannot be explained by comorbid GERD and nighttime asthma disturbances.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants: HL69116, HL69130, HL69155, HL69167, HL69170, HL69174, HL69349, HL091762, KL2RR025009, M01 RR02635, M01RR03186, M01 RR007122-14, 1UL1RR024153, 1UL1RR024989, 1UL1RR024992, 1UL1RR025008, and 1UL1RR025011.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Faith S. Luyster

  2. University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, WI, USA

    Mihaela Teodorescu & William Busse

  3. Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Eugene Bleecker

  4. University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA

    William Calhoun

  5. Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Mario Castro

  6. Imperial College London School of Medicine, London, UK

    Kian Fan Chung

  7. The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Serpil Erzurum

  8. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elliot Israel

  9. Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Patrick J. Strollo & Sally E. Wenzel

  10. The University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Sally E. Wenzel

Authors
  1. Faith S. Luyster
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  2. Mihaela Teodorescu
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  3. Eugene Bleecker
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  4. William Busse
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  5. William Calhoun
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  6. Mario Castro
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  7. Kian Fan Chung
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  8. Serpil Erzurum
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  9. Elliot Israel
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  10. Patrick J. Strollo
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  11. Sally E. Wenzel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Faith S. Luyster.

Additional information

Patrick J. Strollo and Sally E. Wenzel are Co-senior authors.

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Luyster, F.S., Teodorescu, M., Bleecker, E. et al. Sleep quality and asthma control and quality of life in non-severe and severe asthma. Sleep Breath 16, 1129–1137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-011-0616-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-011-0616-8

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