Sleep duration and its associated factors in schizophrenia patients: a large-scale cross-sectional survey.

Background: Sleep disturbance is a common condition in patients with schizophrenia. Studies have shown that insufficient sleep and excessive sleep lead to adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with short and long sleep duration, as well as the prevalence of somatic comorbidities in schizophrenia patients.

Methods: This study was conducted in 24 mental health institutes of Guangdong Province using a multistage-stratified and random sampling method. All information was collected by face-to-face interview with a structured questionnaire. The association of sleep duration with sociodemographic and clinical factors was determined using multinomial logistic regressions. Subgroup analysis was performed in the various source of patients.

Results: A total of 6 024 schizophrenia patients were enrolled in this study, among whom 8.6% (n = 521) reported short sleep duration and 47.2% (n = 2 850) had long sleep duration. The most common comorbid chronic diseases in the entire cohort were hypertension (8.0%), diabetes (6.8%) and hyperlipidemia (3.2%). Factors such as, current smoker, outpatients, benzodiazepines (BZDs), side effects, comorbidities, age of onset, and illness duration were positively associated with short sleep duration. On the other hand, personal annul income < 10 000 yuan, personal annul income ≥ 40 000 yuan, chronic patients, first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) and side effects were positively associated with long sleep duration. In outpatient settings, overweight was associated with long sleep duration, whereas in inpatient settings, being female positively correlated with long sleep duration.

Conclusion: Disruption of sleep duration and somatic comorbidities are highly prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. This study demonstrates the complex relationships among socioeconomic information, clinical factors and sleep duration in schizophrenia, highlighting the need for developing targeted interventions and management strategies for sleep duration.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.