Sleep disturbance is identified as a prominent concern in cancer patients with detrimental effect on health outcome, which accompanies a decline in functional status, reduces quality of life, and even accelerates deterioration of disease. Therefore, in order to design safe and effective therapy, and improve the quality of life in cancer patients, it is necessary to seek the optimal measures of sleep quality evaluation, which include the objective assessments (e.g., polysomnography [PSG], the bispectral index [BIS], actigraphy) and subjective assessments (e.g., Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI], Insomnia Severity Index [ISI], Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS], Consensus Sleep Diary [CSD]) and understand the status of sleep quality in cancer patients, especially patients with cancers in the breast, lung, head and neck, ovaries, and uterus. This review summarizes the common methods used to measure sleep quality and compares the sensitivity, specificity, and practicability of these methods. In addition, the status of sleep disturbance in patients with cancer is analyzed.
Keywords: Actigraphy; Cancer; Insomnia Severity Index; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Polysomnography; Sleep quality.