Sleep quality and noise: comparisons between hospital and home settings

Abstract

Objective: Children and their parents report poor sleep in hospital and complain about noise. We aimed to measure sleep quality and noise levels in hospital and compare these to the home environment.
Design: Observational within case controlled study.
Setting: Paediatric medical wards at Southampton Children’s Hospital and bedrooms at home.
Participants: Children aged 3-16 years and their co-sleeping parents.
Interventions: Sleep quality was measured using actigraphy for a maximum of 5 nights in each setting. Median sound levels at the bedside were monitored overnight in a sub-group in both settings.
Main outcome measures: Total sleep time, sleep efficiency, median sound levels overnight
Results: 40 children and 16 mothers completed actigraphy in both settings. Children had on average 62.9 minutes, and parents 72.8 minutes per night less sleep in hospital than at home. Both children and parents had poorer sleep quality in hospital compared to home: mean sleep efficiency 77.0% v 83.2% children and 77.1%v88.9% parents respectively. Median sound levels in hospital measured in 8 children averaged 48.6 dBA compared to 34.7 dBA at home and exceeded World Health Organisation recommendations of 30dB.
Conclusions: Children and their mothers have poor quality sleep in paediatric wards. This may impact the child’s behavior, recovery and pain tolerance. Sleep deprivation adds to parental burden and stress levels. Sound levels are significantly elevated in hospital and may contribute to poor sleep. Reduction in noise level could therefore lead to an improvement in sleep impacting both parent and child quality of stay.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Catherine Hill: orcid.org/0000-0003-2372-5904

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