Journal of Neuro-Oncology · 7 authors, 11 centres
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A systematic review of 34 studies found sleep disturbance to be highly prevalent among primary brain tumour survivors, associated with treatments such as surgical resection, radiotherapy, and corticosteroid use. No sleep-focused interventions were identified, though preliminary evidence suggests physical activity may benefit subjective sleep outcomes.
This systematic review, registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022299332), searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, PsychINFO, and CINAHL for studies published between September 2015 and May 2022 examining sleep disturbance in primary brain tumour survivors and caregivers. Sleep disturbance was found to be highly prevalent and one of the most common symptoms in primary brain tumour survivors, with associations to surgical resection, radiation therapy, and corticosteroid use. Sleep disturbance frequently co-occurred in symptom clusters with fatigue, drowsiness, distress, and pain. No sleep-focused interventions were identified in the literature, though preliminary evidence suggests physical activity may elicit beneficial changes on subjectively reported sleep disturbance. Only one study included caregivers. Key limitations include heterogeneous samples within and between studies, reliance on secondary single-item symptom scales, small sample sizes, and high attrition rates. The review highlights a critical gap in sleep-focused intervention research for this population.
