OBJECTIVE

To explore the characteristics of sleep disturbance and its related factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS

A total of 71 patients with RA in Department of Rheumatology Huaxi Hospital have completed the following questionnaires, including Pittsburgh sleeping quality index (PSQI), visual analogue scale (VAS), disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28), health assessment questionnaire(HAQ), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), fatigue severity scale (FSS) and a self-designed general status questionnaire.

RESULTS

The prevalence of sleep disturbance was 42.3% (30/71) in rheumatoid arthritis patients (68.4%). The scores of DAS28, VAS, PSQI, HAQ, FSS and HADS in patients with sleep disturbance were significantly higher than those in patients with good sleep, which were respectively 3.90±1.12 vs 2.92±1.92, (5.03±2.63) scores vs (2.41±1.84) scores, (10.87±2.42) scores vs (4.29±1.85) scores, 3.0(0.0,7.0) scores vs 2.0 (0.5, 4.0) scores, (39.17±14.02) scores vs (29.63±16.12) scores, (14.50±7.77) scores vs (9.49±6.57) scores (P<0.05 in all scales). According to the results of Pearson correlation analysis, PSQI had significantly positive correlation with DAS28 (r=0.462, P<0.01), VAS (r=0.556, P<0.01), HAQ (r=0.360, P<0.01), FSS (r=0.420, P<0.01) and HADS (r=0.447, P<0.01) respectively. The logistic regression analysis indicated that VAS was a predictor for poor sleep quality (P<0.01). The patients receiving biological agents had significantly (P<0.05) lower scores of DAS28 (2.86±1.39 vs 3.52±1.10), PSQI [(5.90±4.24) scores vs (8.53±3.78) scores], VAS (2.15±2.30 vs 4.05±2.46), HAQ [0.0 (0.0, 2.0) scores vs 3.0 (0.0, 6.0) scores] compared to those taking oral drugs.

CONCLUSION

High prevalence of sleep disturbance in patients with RA is noted, which indirectly influences the activity of disease, quality of life, depression, fatigue and other physical and mental health. Biological agents can partly improve the sleep disturbance and functional status.