Excessive Daytime Sleepiness is Associated with Knee Pain in Older Adults

Keywords

sleep - osteoarthritis - pain - elderly

Introduction: One in 3 older adults over 65 years old suffers from osteoarthritis (OA). Poor sleep prevails in ~35% of people with OA, and it is related to pain exacerbation. Many studies have associated sleep quality with worsening pain, but the findings are inconsistent for Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) and knee OA specifically.

Aim: To examine the association between EDS and knee pain in older patients with OA.

Methods: Participants aged 60 years or older were included. They were interviewed about their sociodemographic and anthropometric data, knee OA symptoms and EDS. OA data were collected according to the criteria of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, and EDS was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Participants answered the Mini Mental State Examination, those who were classified as cognitively impaired by this questionnaire were excluded as well as those who did not meet the NICE prerequisites for OA. A logistic regression was conducted to verify whether EDS is a risk factor for knee pain.

Results: The final sample contained 451 participants, 291 without knee pain and 160 with knee pain from OA. The mean age of the sample was 71.8 ± 7.89 years; 81.2% had EDS and 64.5% had OA. Participants with OA were 1.93 times more likely to have EDS (OR = 1.934, 95%CI (1.199 to 3.121); p = 0.001) when compared with individuals without pain.

Conclusions: EDS was associated with knee pain in older adults with OA. It is recommended that health professionals evaluate EDS as a risk factor for the worsening of OA pain.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Publication History

Article published online:
15 June 2023