Poor Sleep Predicts Increased Pain Perception Among Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Mary Elizabeth Bowen, Xiaopeng Ji, Mari A Griffioen
PMID 33630768WHAT IT FOUND
More night waking and less time asleep in bed were associated with higher pain over the next week in 15 adults with mild cognitive impairment.
Total sleep hours were not. Ask about night waking when pain rises.
Key findings
01In the study's models, more time awake after sleep onset in the prior week was associated with higher pain intensity, interference, and behavior.
02Higher sleep efficiency was associated with less pain interference and behavior in the following week; pain intensity showed a trend toward significance.
03Total sleep time was not associated with pain perception.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Fifteen participants and 58 paired sleep-pain observations is small, so the study may miss true effects. The study is observational, so it cannot show that poor sleep caused more pain. Sleep data were not cross validated with self-reports of sleep onset and offset, which may reduce accuracy of total sleep time and sleep efficiency. Participants were ambulatory community-dwelling adults with mild cognitive impairment and excluded recent acute health events or debilitating chronic disease, so results may not apply to more frail or cognitively impaired people. No sleep intervention was tested.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The article is tagged as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving sleep will reduce pain. This was a small observational study, so it shows associations between prior-week sleep and later pain, not a tested treatment effect.