Editorial Team
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A recent research study has proved that sleep disturbances are primarily associated with depressive symptoms and pain but not disability. Over time, however, poor sleep was found to increase depressive symptoms and disability but not pain. Patricia Parmelee from the University of Alabama in the US said, 'Sleep disturbance is a common complaint among those with pain, particularly among those with osteo-arthritis (OA).'
The study examined the dynamics between sleep, pain, disability and depressive symptoms in patients with OA, finding complex associations between them as part of a cycle of distress. 'Our research is unique as we investigate the complex relationships among sleep, OA-related pain, disability and depressed mood simultaneously in a single study,'Parmelee added.
For the study, 288 patients with knee OA provided information on sleep disturbances, pain, functional limitations and depressive symptoms for baseline analyses. Longitudinal analyses took the baseline sleep disturbance readings and used them to prdict changes in pain, depression and disability over a one year period. Participants who reported high levels of pain had symptoms of depression exacerbated through a combination of poor sleep and pain. The study appeared in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.
What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a condition where the shiny cartilaginous lining at the ends of the bones is lost or worn away with use. It follows, therefore, that this disease will be seen primarily in the elderly. The life of this lining, and therefore the life of a joint, is around 48-50 years, unchanged structurally in the last two million years, so patients with symptoms of osteoarthritis will present to their doctors at roughly this age.
For the same reason, osteoarthritis is seen commonly in weight bearing joints (the spine, hip or knee), where the cartilaginous lining is subjected to more stress, or in the small joints of the thumbs and some other fingers, where the joints are used more repeatedly. And again, for the same reason, symptoms of arthritis will be present on both sides together. (Read: Suffer from osteoarthritis? Don t lose hope!)
With inputs from IANS
Image Source: Getty Images
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