Lisa Maria Wu

TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of systematic light exposure on sleep in a mixed group of fatigued cancer survivors

AU - Wu, Lisa Maria

AU - Amidi, Ali

AU - Valdimarsdottir, Heiddis

AU - Ancoli-Israel, Sonia

AU - Liu, Lianqi

AU - Winkel, Gary

AU - Byrne, Emily

AU - Vallejo Sefair, Ana

AU - Vega, Alejandro

AU - Bovbjerg, Katrin

AU - Redd, William

N1 - © 2018 American Academy of Sleep Medicine

PY - 2018/1/15

Y1 - 2018/1/15

N2 - Study Objectives: Sleep disturbances are commonly reported by cancer survivors. Systematic light exposure using bright light has been used to improve sleep in other populations. In this secondary data analysis, the effect of morning administration of bright light on sleep and sleep quality was examined in a mixed group of fatigued cancer survivors. Methods: Forty-four cancer survivors screened for cancer-related fatigue were randomized to either a bright white light or a comparison dim red light condition. Participants were instructed to use a light box every morning for 30 minutes for 4 weeks. Wrist actigraphy and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were administered at 4 time points: prior to light treatment (baseline), 2 weeks into the intervention, during the last week of the intervention, and 3 weeks postintervention. Thirty-seven participants completed the end-of-intervention assessment. Results: Repeated-measures linear mixed models indicated a statistically significant time × treatment group interaction effect with sleep efficiency improving more in the bright light condition over time compared with the dim light condition (F 3, 42 = 5.55; P = .003) with a large effect size (partial η 2 = 0.28). By the end of the intervention and 3 weeks postintervention, mean sleep efficiency in the bright light group was in the normal range. Medium to large effect sizes were also seen in sleep quality, total sleep time, and wake after sleep onset for participants favoring the bright light condition. Conclusions: The results suggest that systematic bright light exposure in the morning may have beneficial effects on sleep in fatigued cancer survivors. Larger scale efficacy trials are warranted. Clinical Trial Registration: Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov, Title: Treating Cancer-Related Fatigue Through Systematic Light Exposure, Identifier: NCT01873794, URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01873794.

AB - Study Objectives: Sleep disturbances are commonly reported by cancer survivors. Systematic light exposure using bright light has been used to improve sleep in other populations. In this secondary data analysis, the effect of morning administration of bright light on sleep and sleep quality was examined in a mixed group of fatigued cancer survivors. Methods: Forty-four cancer survivors screened for cancer-related fatigue were randomized to either a bright white light or a comparison dim red light condition. Participants were instructed to use a light box every morning for 30 minutes for 4 weeks. Wrist actigraphy and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were administered at 4 time points: prior to light treatment (baseline), 2 weeks into the intervention, during the last week of the intervention, and 3 weeks postintervention. Thirty-seven participants completed the end-of-intervention assessment. Results: Repeated-measures linear mixed models indicated a statistically significant time × treatment group interaction effect with sleep efficiency improving more in the bright light condition over time compared with the dim light condition (F 3, 42 = 5.55; P = .003) with a large effect size (partial η 2 = 0.28). By the end of the intervention and 3 weeks postintervention, mean sleep efficiency in the bright light group was in the normal range. Medium to large effect sizes were also seen in sleep quality, total sleep time, and wake after sleep onset for participants favoring the bright light condition. Conclusions: The results suggest that systematic bright light exposure in the morning may have beneficial effects on sleep in fatigued cancer survivors. Larger scale efficacy trials are warranted. Clinical Trial Registration: Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov, Title: Treating Cancer-Related Fatigue Through Systematic Light Exposure, Identifier: NCT01873794, URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01873794.

KW - Actigraphy

KW - Cancer

KW - Fatigue

KW - Light therapy

KW - Sleep disturbance

KW - Sleep efficiency

KW - Sleep quality

KW - INSOMNIA

KW - POPULATION

KW - MANAGEMENT

KW - sleep disturbance

KW - FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT

KW - CIRCADIAN-RHYTHMS

KW - light therapy

KW - CHEMOTHERAPY

KW - BREAST-CANCER

KW - WOMEN

KW - sleep efficiency

KW - fatigue

KW - THERAPY

KW - QUALITY INDEX

KW - actigraphy

KW - cancer

KW - sleep quality

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040799036&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5664/jcsm.6874

DO - 10.5664/jcsm.6874

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29198295

VL - 14

SP - 31

EP - 39

JO - The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

JF - The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

SN - 1550-9389

IS - 1

M1 - PII jc-17-00369

ER -