The impact of sleep interruptions on vital measurements and chronic fatigue of female caregivers providing home care in Japan

The purposes of this study were to examine the impact of sleep interruptions on diurnal changes in blood pressure and chronic fatigue in middle-aged and elderly caregivers by using a cross-sectional quantitative method. Thirty-five female caregivers who were not taking antihypertensive and/or sleeping drugs were recruited for this study. Blood pressure was monitored over a 24 h period. Sleeping or waking periods were monitored with an actigraph. Fatigue was determined from a self-administered questionnaire. Participants were classified into four groups by cause of sleep interruption. One-way analysis of variance showed no differences in blood pressure, but hypertension was prevalent (40%). Sleep duration differed significantly, with the longest duration for those scheduled to wake up for care. Substantial variations were identified in the eight subcategories of chronic fatigue, with those without sleep interruption having the worst profile. This suggests that multiple factors in addition to sleep interruption affect the care burden.