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Abstract
Background A low-cost, quantitative method to evaluate sleep in the intensive care unit (ICU) that is both feasible for routine clinical practice and reliable does not yet exist. We characterised nocturnal ICU sleep using a commercially available activity tracker and evaluated agreement between tracker-derived sleep data and patient-perceived sleep quality.
Patients and methods A prospective cohort study was performed in a 40-bed ICU at a community teaching hospital. An activity tracker (Fitbit Charge 2) was applied for up to 7 ICU days in English-speaking adults with an anticipated ICU stay ≥2 days and without mechanical ventilation, sleep apnoea, delirium, continuous sedation, contact isolation or recent anaesthesia. The Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) was administered each morning by a trained investigator.
Results Available activity tracker-derived data for each ICU study night (20:00–09:00) (total sleep time (TST), number of awakenings (#AW), and time spent light sleep, deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep) were downloaded and analysed. Across the 232 evaluated nights (76 patients), TST and RCSQ data were available for 232 (100%), #AW data for 180 (78%) and sleep stage data for 73 (31%). Agreement between TST (349±168 min) and RCSQ Score was moderate and significant (r=0.34; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.48). Agreement between #AW (median (IQR), 4 (2–9)) and RCSQ Score was negative and non-significant (r=−0.01; 95% CI −0.19 to 0.14). Agreement between time (min) spent in light (259 (182 to 328)), deep (43±29), and REM (47 (28–72)) sleep and RCSQ Score was moderate but non-significant (light (r=0.44, 95% CI −0.05 to 0.36); deep sleep (r=0.44, 95% CI −0.11 to 0.15) and REM sleep (r=0.44; 95% CI −0.21 to 0.21)).
Conclusions A Fitbit Charge 2 when applied to non-intubated adults in an ICU consistently collects TST data but not #AW or sleep stage data at night. The TST moderately correlates with patient-perceived sleep quality; a correlation between either #AW or sleep stages and sleep quality was not found.
- equipment evaluations
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Footnotes
Contributors PL takes full responsibility for the content of the manuscript. JA, XT, EP, MA and PL were involved in the conception and design of the study and acquired all data. JA, XT, EP, MA, PL,YD and JD analysed the data and drafted the manuscript.
Funding This study was supported by an unrestricted grant from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Neither the sponsor (or the manufacturer of the activity tracker used in the study) had a role in the conception, design or conduct of this study; collection, management, analysis, interpretation or presentation of data; or preparation, review or approval of this manuscript.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request.