Quality of Sleep of the Aged at Home and in Hospital1

The objective of this study was to describe the quality of sleep of aged individuals at home and in hospital. Descriptive study, conducted in the wards of a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, with 160 individuals (57.5% men, mean age 69.8 years) admitted for a period between 48 hours to five days, who were able to answer the instruments. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used at home and a visual analog scale of sleep in the hospital. This scale indicated satisfactory sleep quality and moderate daytime sleepiness. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index indicated poor quality of sleep at home (69.4%), more particularly sleep fragmentation for the majority of subjects. Data indicating poor quality of sleep at home emphasize the need for assessing the quality of sleep of the elderly, especially its fragmentation, as well as the need for studies that give support to practices that promote good sleep quality during hospitalization, aiming at clinical recovery.