According to a recent study conducted to evaluate the breast cancer treatment-related NP impact oversleep quality, sleep quality may get affected for almost a one year after the treatment in women treated for breast cancer.

Breast cancer develops from breast tissue in women. The management of breast cancer is possible if diagnosed at the right time; however, the treatment approach is painful like every other cancer.  In some people, the pain is resolved after the treatment, but in some people, it may persist even after the treatment. One of the pain among breast cancer patients is the neuropathic pain (NP), which is related to chemotherapy medications. These medications travel throughout the body and can damage the nerves, thereby causing pain and also affects other body functioning like sleep.

The study included a total of 501 women being treated for breast cancer. Among these patients, the incidence of NP was determined through systematic evaluations. Further, the severity of NP was evaluated through Brief Pain Inventory severity subscale and quality of sleep through Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). All the analysis was done after treatments and one year after enrollment. The association between NP and the pain quality was done by using Adjusted regression coefficients (β) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

According to the analysis, NP was related to a declined sleep quality during the first year of follow-up. The pain was among the patients who had a good sleep quality at baseline. The difference between both was highlighted when only the cases of NP with greater severity was examined. The PSQI analysis showed that two factors- daytime dysfunction, and sleep duration were most affected by NP. Therefore, the whole study showed that sleep hygiene was important among patients having breast cancer with NP, especially in those who had good sleep quality before treatments.