36 Sleep science Volume 1 • july/2008 SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE PATTERN, SLEEP QUALITY AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT SLEEP DISTURBANCES MADE BY INPATIENTS Katie Moraes de Almondes 1 ; Natália Bezerra Mota 2 ; John Fontenele Araújo 3 1 Departament of Psychology – FARN - Faculdade Natalense para o Desenvolvimento do Rio Grande do Norte ; 2 UFRN – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte; 3 Departament of Physiology – UFRN - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Running title: Sleep in hospitalized patients Correspondence: Katie Moraes de Almondes Coordenação de Psicologia da Faculdade Natalense para o Desenvolvimento do Rio Grande do Norte Rua Profa. Eliane Barros, 2000, Tirol, Natal/RN - 59014-540. e-mail: katiealmondes@farn.br; kmalmondes@ufrnet.br Received March 14, 2008; accepted June 20, 2008. ABSTRACT Objectives: Comparing the sleep-wake cycle, sleep quality, and sleep-related complaints of patients in a private general hospital to those patients in a public general hospital Methods: Transversal study conducted with a sample comprising 50 patients in a public hospital and 42 patients in a private hospi- tal. Protocols: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Questionnaire on Sleep Habits and medical records. The Student’s t-Test was utilized for independent samples and for Person’s correlation. Results: The sleep quality averages for patients in the private hospital and in the public hospital were 5.3 ± 2.9 and 7.04 ± 4.2, respectively, with a significant difference between them (t = 2.2; p < 0.05). Overall, 74% of patients in the public hospital and 69% of patients in the private hospital showed excessive daily sleepiness. Disturbed sleep during the night for medication was the most frequent complaint in relation to the hospital environment. Only a few complaints were made by patients, and the ones that were reported were seldom acted on by the health care professionals. Conclusions: Environmental and individual factors should be considered in the etiology, predisposition and maintenance of sleep disturbances in patients treated in general hospitals. Key words: Inpatients, Sleep, Sleep disorders, Hospitals, Behavioral Medicine, Health. INTRODUCTION The prevalence of sleep disorders has shown a marked increase lately, affecting between 30 and 50% of the general population (1). These disorders are the result of health and/or behavioral problems, such as harmful sleep habits (2,3). However, those who suffer from sleep disorders do not give too much attention to the problem, and few patients seek professional help or mention the problem during a clinical examination (4,5). In general hospital inpatients, the frequency of sleep disorders