The effect of diphenhydramine on sleep in pediatric burn patients: A secondary analysis

Abstract

Adequate sleep is essential for maintaining homeostasis, especially when recovering from an illness; however, studies have shown that sleep disruption and sleep deprivation are common in intensive care unit patients, including children who have sustained burn injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of diphenhydramine (DPH) on sleep in pediatric intensive care unit burn patients using Myra Levine's Conservation Model as the organizing framework. For this study, secondary analysis of polysomnography data and retrospective chart review were used. Twelve DPH patients were pair matched in terms of morphine, midazolam, and methadone with 12 non-DPH patients. The data were analyzed using paired t-tests for each dependent variable and χ 2 analysis was used for frequency determinations. There was no difference in demographics between the two groups. DPH patients took 4.3 ± 1.6 minutes to fall asleep whereas non-DPH patients took 15.8 ± 1.6 minutes to achieve sleep onset (P =.06). Patients receiving DPH achieved 297.6 ± 29.9 minutes of total sleep time whereas those not receiving DPH achieved only 209.2 ± 29.9 minutes (P