Abstract
INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to explore the relationship between breathlessness (severity and chronicity) and poor sleep quality. METHODS: Analysis of an Australia-wide, online cross-sectional survey carried out between 12 July - 2 August 2021. Community-dwelling adults were recruited from a web-based survey panel, with recruitment based on age, gender, and state of residence quotas to match the Australian 2016 census population data. Participants self-reported breathlessness using the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale, as well as their perceived sleep quality and other demographic and health measures. RESULTS: Sleep quality was available for 9,877 responders (52% females, mean age 46, SD=19 years, BMI 27 SD=7 kg/m2). Sleep quality in the previous month was reported as “very good”, “fairly good”, “fairly bad” and “very bad” by 16, 49, 25%, and 10% of participants respectively. Breathlessness (mMRC 1–4), chronic breathlessness (mMRC 1–4 for longer than 3 months) and severe breathlessness (mMRC 2–4) were 42, 29 and 11% respectively. Respondents with perceived poor sleep quality were more likely to be breathless, younger, with a higher BMI, and higher likelihood of identifying as female. All measures of breathlessness were associated with increased odds of poor sleep quality [adjusted models with gender, age and BMI, OR (95% confidence interval): 2.6 (2.4 to 2.9), 3.1 (2.8 to 3.5) and 3.4 (2.9 to 3.9) for breathlessness, chronic and severe breathlessness respectively]. There were no significant interactions between any breathlessness measure and age. DISCUSSION: There is a strong association between breathlessness and perceived poor sleep quality.