Poor quality sleep may cause widespread pain later in life

By Sally Robertson, B.Sc.Feb 13 2014

Poor quality sleep may be partly responsible for the aches and pains people develop as they grow older, according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

The research showed that among 4,326 adults aged over 50 who did not have widespread pain to begin with, non-restorative sleep was found to be a significant predictor of whether or not they developed widespread pain during a three-year follow-up period.

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Led by John McBeth from Arthritis Research UK at Keele University in Staffordshire, the study aimed to identify factors that may be associated with the development of widespread pain in older individuals. Widespread pain or pain felt at various sites in the body currently affects 15% of women and 10% of men aged over 50 years. Furthermore, the proportion of people affected seems to increase as people age, with up to 80% of those over 65 years old experiencing widespread pain on a daily basis.

McBeth and colleagues gathered data on the participants pain status at the start of the study as well as data on physical, psychological, lifestyle and demographic factors. Three years later, the participants were followed-up and the incidence of widespread pain amongst the group was assessed.

At the beginning of the study, none of the participants reported widespread pain, with 2764 reporting only some degree of pain and 1562 reporting no pain at all.

At the three year follow-up assessment, 800 (19%) individuals reported the onset of widespread pain. Those with some degree of pain at recruitment accounted for a larger proportion of the new cases than those without pain at recruitment, at 25% versus 8%.

Further analysis showed that aside form pre-existing pain, non-restorative sleep was one of the most significant predictors of widespread pain developing during the follow-up period. Unrefreshing sleep was found to be predictive of the widespread pain, even after adjustment for osteoarthririts. Other predictive factors included anxiety, physical health-related quality of life and cognitive complaints.

Alan Silman, medical director of Arthritis Research UK called the research important, saying it sheds further light on the relationship between poor sleep and widespread pain or fibromyalgia. "Brainwave studies have shown that people with this condition often lose deep sleep, and in an experiment where healthy volunteers were woken during each period of deep sleep, a number of them developed the typical signs and symptoms of fibromyalgia,” said Silman.

“A combination of pain, sleep disturbance and anxiety or depression can turn into a vicious circle,” he warns.

Sources

• http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-110275.html
• https://www.versusarthritis.org/