Abstract

Background:
Breast cancer patients have a variety of physical and mental arising from the disease and the result of treatment. Various complaints faced by breast cancer patients lead to high levels of patients' dependence on informal caregivers. This impacts the balance of personal work time with the free time that informal caregivers have to relax so that it triggers stress. High levels of stress lead to high cortisol levels. High levels of cortisol will cause cortisol awakening response and result in poor sleep quality.
Aims:
This study aims to determine high cortisol as a risk factor of poor sleep quality in informal caregiver breast cancer patients at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar.
Methods:
This study is an analytical study with a case-control design in informal caregivers of breast cancer patients from October 2020-January 2021. A total of 58 subjects were divided into case and control groups. From the statistical analysis using SPSS program on bivariate analysis with Chi-square obtained OR = 6.8 (95% Confidence Interval = 2.02-22.90; p = 0.002). Multivariate analysis showed that cortisol serum had a P-value of 0.002.
Conclusion:
High cortisol levels increase the risk of poor sleep quality six times in informal caregivers of breast cancer patients.

Key words: breast cancer, cortisol, informal caregiver, poor sleep quality