Advertisement

Journal: Musculoskeletal Care. 2007 Mar 5;5(1):51-64 [E-publication ahead of print]

Authors and affiliation: Treharne GJ, Lyons AC, Hale ED, Douglas KM, Goodchild CE, Booth DA, Kitas GD. School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK.

PMID: 17340595

Background: Sleep is an important daily process that can be disrupted by chronic illnesses including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Aims: We tested whether demographic, medical, and psychological factors act as predictors of change in frequency of sleep disruption associated with RA.

Methods: A cohort of 129 White British people with RA (mean duration of RA 7.19 years; mean age 55.40 years; 75% women) was followed for one year. Self-report questionnaires were employed to record demographic information and assess participants' sleep disruption (on a 4-point frequency scale), morning stiffness (duration), pain and fatigue (visual analogue scales), impact of disability, anxiety, depression, stress, coping, illness perceptions and self-efficacy.

Hospital notes were reviewed for duration of RA, antidepressant use, and comorbidity.

Results: Participants were split into those with:

Results of a logistic regression demonstrated that greater perceived stress at baseline predicted sleep disruption that was consistently frequent or increasing in frequency over the year. Change in sleep disruption frequency was not predicted by any other assessed variable. Perceived stress at the end of the year was not predicted by change in frequency of sleep disruption.

Conclusions: Self-reported frequency of sleep disruption among people with RA relates to perceived stress. Psychoeducational programs that help people with RA to manage their stress may be a non-pharmacological method of improving sleep quality and therefore merit testing in specific interventional studies.