Pradeep Rangasamy1 , Ajay Thangaraj2 , Premkumar Kamatchinathan3 , Ananthavijay Karnan4 , Maikandaan Chandrasekar Janaganbose5 , Genesan Esakki6 , Damodaran Bhoopathy7
BACKGROUND Sleep disturbances usually accompany osteoarthritis (OA) because of chronic pain. Poor sleep quality is related to many factors like pain, fatiguability, restless leg syndrome, immobility of joints, anxiety and depression. But the quality of the sleep in patients with osteoarthritis has been rarely studied. We wanted to assess the prevalence of sleep disturbances in OA patients, determine the sleep quality in osteoarthritis patients and evaluate the relationship between pains and sleep quality. METHODS 150 patients with osteoarthritis were selected through convenience sampling as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) were applied. Data was analysed using SPSS. One sample T test and Pearson Correlation were applied to find the correlation between the pains and sleep quality. RESULTS A total of 86 (57 %) patients with osteoarthritis were found to have sleep disturbances and were assessed for sleep quality and pain level. This group contains 18 (20 %) males and 68 (80 %) females. A total of 62 (72 %) osteoarthritis patients including 14 males and 48 females were having poor sleep quality; 67 (78 %) patients had intolerable pain (NPRS > 7). Strong positive correlation (p-value < 0.001) was found between GPSQI and NPRS. CONCLUSIONS Patients with osteoarthritis with high NPRS values have poor sleep quality. There is significant association between pain and poor sleep quality. It will be highly useful for the patients with osteoarthritis if osteoarthritis treatment protocol includes assessment and management of poor sleep quality. As poor quality is an early indicator of majority of mental illnesses, psychiatric liaison services will be highly beneficial for patients with osteoarthritis.
