Davorin Pezerović

Introduction: Patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis treatment (HD patients) experience sleep quality deterioration, which is associated with lower quality of life and represents an independent predictor of mortality in HD patients. Recently, the number of research papers aimed at assessing sleep quality in HD patients has been increased, due to the fact that it is such an important factor. Thus, this study aimed to identify the main factors related with low sleep quality in HD patients by reviewing scientific literature. Materials and methods: A search based on key words was performed in the MEDLINE database and selected scientific papers were analyzed by using the matrix method. The initial search retrieved 472 scientific articles to which certain inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, combined with a critical analysis, resulting in the selection of a total of 48 papers. Factors related with low sleep quality in HD patients were grouped in three sub-groups, while sociodemographic and clinical characteristics showed significant impact on low sleep quality in HD patients. Results: It has also been proven that low sleep quality is correlated with biochemical variables such as inflammation factors, low albumin levels and other factors, whereas knowledge concerning factors involved in hemodialysis also contributes to the efforts of medical staff aimed at improving HD patients' quality of sleep. Conclusion: Etiology of sleep quality deterioration in HD patients is manifold, and significantly affected by psychosocial, biochemical and clinical factors.