Sleep quality, the neglected outcome variable in clinical studies focusing on locomotor system; a construct validation study

Table 4 Relationship between sleep problems and musculoskeletal pain.

	N of patients with pain (%)	N of patients without pain (%)	Proportion of patients with pure musculoskeletal pain	Pain intensity (scale: between 1-strong and 7-none)
- No sleep problems	4786 (59%)	3396 (41%)	88%	5.7
- Sleep problems not because of pain	4900 (77%)	1429 (23%)	86%	4.9
- Sleep problems because of pain	1224 (96%)	47 (4%)	95%	3.5
- Sleep problems because of pain (ex. confounding causes*)	899 (96%)	32 (4%)	95%	3.6

In patients with sleep problems because of pain a significantly higher proportion of patients with pure musculoskeletal pain (95%) in comparison with the patients with sleep problems due to reasons other than pain (86%) or with the patients without sleep problems (88%) was seen (p > 0.001). Similar results show patients with sleep problems because of pain without confounding causes (* - patients with the reason for sleep loss other than pain are excluded).

ISSN: 1471-2474