Chronic pain takes toll on partner's sleep

A patient's chronic knee pain could affect the quality of their spouse's sleep, a small study suggests.

Researchers in Pennsylvania wanted to look at whether chronic illness jeopardizes a partner's sleep, which they called critical to physical health.

Couples were asked about the closeness of their relationship and sleep quality. (iStock)

"Compromised sleep caused by exposure to a loved one's suffering may be one pathway to spousal caregivers' increased risk of health problems including cardiovascular disease," Lynn Martire of the department of human development & family studies at Penn State University and her co-authors conclude in today's issue of the journal Pain.

"Findings illustrate that chronic pain may place the spouse's health at risk and suggest an important target for couple-oriented interventions."

For the study, 138 knee osteoarthritis patients and their spouses who were together for 34 years on average were interviewed and filled out diaries for three weeks on their sleep patterns and mood.

Greater knee pain at the end of the day was associated with poorer overall sleep quality for spouses that night and feeling less refreshed the next day, the researchers said.

The most obvious explanation is that patients' pain disturbs their own sleep, which ends up detracting from their spouses' sleep. But even when the researchers accounted for that factor, the observed effects of patient pain on spouse sleep remained.

The team found no evidence that spouse sleep was related to greater patient pain the next day.

Spouses who reported symptoms of depression and negative moods upon awakening were more likely to experience poor sleep quality and less refreshing sleep.

The researchers said that as they predicted, for those in close relationships, the greater a patient's pain, the less refreshing the sleep for the spouse.

The team didn't have specific information on sleep problems and the sleep indications were self-reported rather than objectively measured at a sleep lab.

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