Background: Sleep disorders in the form of insomnia and lethargy can occur in up to 80% of adults receiving haemodialysis. These conditions decrease quality of life and may increase cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this population. Restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, lack of exercise, inflexible dialysis treatments and sleep apnoea may contribute to sleep disorders in this population.

Methods: Patients in one Australian metropolitan satellite haemodialysis unit were surveyed using the Berlin Questionnaire to identify patients at high risk for sleep apnoea and disrupted sleep. Secondary analysis was designed to identify the association between intradialytic exercise and sleep disorders.

Results: The Berlin Questionnaire highlighted that 66.6% of our patients are at high risk of sleep apnoea. Following this we analysed data comparing exercising cohorts and non-exercising cohorts. This secondary data is unavailable at time of abstract submission.

Conclusions: Sleep disorders were under recognised in our haemodialysis unit. The study contributed to an increased awareness of nursing staff of the quality of sleep and health-related quality of life in our haemodialysis patients. In addition our study highlighted the possible inverse association of exercise and sleep disorders. Further multidisciplinary research (involving sleep researchers) is required to explore whether nocturnal dialysis and/or exercise may improve sleep disorders