Impact of sleep quality on post‐stroke anxiety in stroke patients

Objective To explore whether poor sleep is associated with post‐stroke anxiety (PSA) in Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and to verify whether poor sleep is a predictor of PSA. Methods A total of 327 patients with AIS were enrolled and followed up for 1 month. Sleep quality within 1 month before stroke was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) at admission. The patients were divided into the poor sleep group (PSQI > 7, n  = 76) and good sleep group (PSQI ≤ 7, n  = 251). One month after stroke, patients with obvious anxiety symptoms and a Hamilton Anxiety Scale score >7 were diagnosed with PSA. Results Eighty‐seven patients (26.6%) were diagnosed with PSA. Compared to the good sleep quality group, the incidence of PSA in patients with poor sleep quality was higher (42.1% vs. 21.9%, p  = .001). Poor sleep quality is more common in patients with PSA (35.6% vs. 18.8%, p  = .001). A logistic regression analysis indicated that poor sleep quality was significantly associated with PSA (OR: 2.265, 95% CI: 1.262–4.067, p  = .003). After adjusting for conventional and identified risk factors, poor sleep quality was found to be independently associated with PSA (OR: 2.676, 95% CI: 1.451–4.936, p  = .001). Conclusions Poor sleep quality before stroke was associated with PSA and may be an independent risk factor of PSA 1 month after AIS onset.