Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 3.0

Hypnotic Use for Sleep Disturbances in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review

Lærke Toftegård Andersen, Jacob Rosenberg, Ismail Gögenur

Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research · pp. 596–607 · Published 27 Feb 2013

10.9734/BJMMR/2013/2519

Abstract

Aims: Sleep disturbances are common in patients with breast cancer. The aim of this systematic review was to present the literature on pharmacological interventions against sleep disturbances and use of hypnotics in patients with breast cancer. We wanted to study patients both in the perioperative period as well as when they were receiving oncological (medical) treatment. Study Design: Systematic review. Methodology: According to the PRISMA guidelines, a literature search was performed on May 10th 2012 in Pubmed and Embase. Primary outcomes were pharmacological interventions against sleep disturbances. No restriction on publication status was made. Only articles in English were included. Case reports and studies with less than ten patients were excluded. Results: Five studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. One study investigated pharmacological intervention in the perioperative period and showed that treatment with triazolam significantly improved sleep three consecutive nights after surgery. Two studies investigated patients undergoing endocrine oncological treatment. The studies showed that zolpidem combined with an SSRI/SNRI improved sleep in patients having hot flashes, and that hypnotics were prescribed significantly more often in patients undergoing endocrine treatment compared with healthy patients not receiving endocrine treatment. Two studies investigated patients receiving chemotherapy. The studies showed that hypnotics were prescribed to almost every second patient. Prior users of hypnotics and patients with a psychiatric diagnosis were more likely to take hypnotics during chemotherapy. Conclusion: Sleep disturbances occur frequently in patients with breast cancer indicated by the high prevalence of hypnotic use. It therefore is of concern that only few clinical trials exist on pharmacological intervention against sleep disturbances in the different treatment time periods. At present, there is insufficient evidence to recommend one single pharmacological intervention in this patient group.

Breast cancer sleep disturbances hypnotics.

References (44)

  1. 1 The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration [DOI]
  2. 2 Epidemiology of insomnia: what we know and what we still need to learn [DOI]
  3. 3 The Role of Actigraphy in the Study of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms [DOI]
  4. 4 Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences [DOI]
  5. 5 Prevalence of Depression in Patients With Cancer [DOI]
  6. 6 Sedative hypnotics in older people with insomnia: meta-analysis of risks and benefits [DOI]
  7. 7 Comparison of actigraphic, polysomnographic, and subjective assessment of sleep parameters in sleep-disordered patients [DOI]
  8. 8 The basic physiology and pathophysiology of melatonin [DOI]
  9. 9 Insomnia in the Context of Cancer: A Review of a Neglected Problem [DOI]
  10. 10 Sleep disturbance in cancer patients [DOI]
  11. 11 Meta-analysis of benzodiazepine use in the treatment of insomnia.
  12. 12 Prevalence, Demographics, and Psychological Associations of Sleep Disruption in Patients With Cancer: University of Rochester Cancer Center–Community Clinical Oncology Program [DOI]
  13. 13 Improvement of sleep quality in elderly people by controlled-release melatonin [DOI]
  14. 14 Efficacy and safety of exogenous melatonin for secondary sleep disorders and sleep disorders accompanying sleep restriction: meta-analysis [DOI]
  15. 15 Benzodiazepines and Zolpidem for Chronic Insomnia [DOI]
  16. 16 Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Risk Factors for Insomnia in the Context of Breast Cancer [DOI]
  17. 17 Natural Course of Insomnia Comorbid With Cancer: An 18-Month Longitudinal Study [DOI]
  18. 18 Effects of Sleep and Sleep Deprivation on Interleukin-6, Growth Hormone, Cortisol, and Melatonin Levels in Humans1 [DOI]
  19. 19 Sleep and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients [DOI]
  20. 20 Chronic insomnia is associated with a shift of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor secretion from nighttime to daytime [DOI]
  21. 21 Novel melatonin-based therapies: potential advances in the treatment of major depression [DOI]
  22. 22 Placebo-controlled trial of agomelatine in the treatment of major depressive disorder [DOI]
  23. 23 Efficacy of agomelatine, a MT1/MT2 receptor agonist with 5-HT2C antagonistic properties, in major depressive disorder [DOI]
  24. 24 Paroxetine Is an Effective Treatment for Hot Flashes: Results From a Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial [DOI]
  25. 25 Insomnia and its treatment in women with breast cancer [DOI]
  26. 26 A longitudinal study of depression, pain, and stress as predictors of sleep disturbance among women with metastatic breast cancer [DOI]
  27. 27 Behavioral therapy intervention trial to improve sleep quality and cancer‐related fatigue [DOI]
  28. 28 Sleep Disturbances in Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer [DOI]
  29. 29 Interactions Between Tamoxifen and Antidepressants via Cytochrome P450 2D6 [DOI]
  30. 30 Prevalence and Predictors of Sleep Difficulty in a National Cohort of Women With Primary Breast Cancer Three to Four Months Postsurgery [DOI]
  31. 31 Utilization of hypnotic medication in the context of cancer: predictors and frequency of use [DOI]
  32. 32 Relationship between quality of life and mood in long-term survivors of breast cancer treated with mastectomy [DOI]
  33. 33 A survey of psychotropic drug prescriptions in an oncology population [DOI]
  34. 34 The relative importance of specific risk factors for insomnia in women treated for early‐stage breast cancer [DOI]
  35. 35 Management of Hot Flashes in Patients Who Have Breast Cancer With Venlafaxine and Clonidine: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial [DOI]
  36. 36 Changes in the prescription patterns of psychotropic drugs for cancer patients during a 10-year period [DOI]
  37. 37 A Pilot Trial of Paroxetine for the Treatment of Hot Flashes and Associated Symptoms in Women with Breast Cancer [DOI]
  38. 38 Disrupted Sleep the Night Before Breast Surgery Is Associated with Increased Postoperative Pain [DOI]
  39. 39 Augmentation of venlafaxine and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with zolpidem improves sleep and quality of life in breast cancer patients with hot flashes [DOI]
  40. 40 Sleep aid use during and following breast cancer adjuvant chemotherapy [DOI]
  41. 41 Psychotropic medication during endocrine treatment for breast cancer [DOI]
  42. 42 Do antidepressants reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen?† [DOI]
  43. 43 Sleep Aid Prescribing Practices during Neoadjuvant or Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer [DOI]
  44. 44 Hypnotic efficacy and safety of triazolam administered during the postoperative period [DOI]

Cited by 0

No indexed citations yet.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

57

Page views

0

PDF downloads

9

Outbound clicks

0

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.