Photo Credit: Stefanamer
The following is a summary of the “Relationship between insomnia and pain in patients with chronic orofacial pain,” published in the January 2024 issue of Pain by Alessandri-Bonetti et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore how insomnia interacts with pain and mental and physical health in chronic orofacial pain (OFP) patients seeking treatment.
They extracted data from the medical records of 450 patients who had their initial appointment at a university-affiliated tertiary OFP clinic. Data collected included demographic information, OFP diagnosis, insomnia symptoms, pain intensity, interference and duration, mental health measures, and various medical comorbidities. T-tests were performed to compare differences among patients with and without insomnia symptoms, as well as between patients with different insomnia subtypes, such as delayed onset or early awakening.
The results showed patients with heightened insomnia symptoms (45.1%) reported increased pain intensity (60.70 ± 20.61 vs 44.15 ± 21.69; P<.001) and interference (43.81 ± 29.84 vs 18.40 ± 23.43; P<0.001), along with greater depression/anxiety symptoms (5.53 ± 3.32 vs 2.72 ± 2.66; P<0.001), life dissatisfaction (21.63 ± 6.95 vs 26.50 ± 6.21; P<.001), and number of medical comorbidities (6.72 ± 5.37 vs 4.37 ± 4.60; P<.001) compared to those without insomnia. Patients with Sleep Onset Latency insomnia (SOL-insomnia) (N = 76) exhibited higher pain intensity (t = 3.57; P<0.001) and pain interference (t = 4.46; P<.001) than those without SOL-insomnia. Individuals with Early Morning Awakening insomnia (EMA-insomnia) (N = 71) did not significantly differ from those without EMA-insomnia on any measured variables. Even after adjusting for age, sex, primary OFP diagnosis, and pain intensity, these differences remained significant.
Investigators concluded that chronic OFP patients with insomnia experienced worse pain, highlighting the need for combined sleep and pain management.
Source: academic.oup.com/painmedicine/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pm/pnae003/7585465
