Sleep disorders are common in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A review aimed to assess the effectiveness and adverse events of various interventions for adults and children with CKD, including those with end-stage kidney disease undergoing dialysis or kidney transplantation. The review included 67 studies with 3427 participants, but many studies had incomplete methodological details, leading to uncertain risk of bias. Meta-analyses involved 36 studies with 2239 participants, with follow-up ranging from 0.3 to 52.8 weeks.

The authors found that relaxation techniques and exercise had uncertain effects on sleep quality, with very low certainty evidence. Exercise might reduce depression and fatigue moderately, while acupressure could slightly improve sleep latency and time, though its effects on sleep disturbance were unclear. The evidence for acupressure’s impact on sleep quality compared with sham acupressure was very low. Adverse effects of these therapies were uncertain, and no studies reported treatment effects for children. The overall evidence for improving sleep quality in patients with CKD is sparse, indicating a need for more rigorous future research on sleep interventions in this population.

Reference: Natale P, Ruospo M, Saglimbene VM, Palmer SC, Strippoli GF. Interventions for improving sleep quality in people with chronic kidney disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019;5(5):CD012625. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012625.pub2.