Wang Xuewen, Vendemia Jennifer M C, Kishman Erin E, Gilliam John R, Reynolds Alexandria M, Silfies Sheri P
Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina School of Public Health, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina College of Arts and Sciences, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 29;20(4):e0322008. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322008. eCollection 2025.
Both pain and sleep have a broad impact on health and well-being. There is a bi-directional association between pain and sleep, but how sleep and pain are associated chronically remains unclear. This study examined the associations of sleep architecture and quality in relation to pain experience and its impact in individuals with persistent low back pain (pLBP) and asymptomatic controls.
Participants included individuals in a current episode of low back pain with symptoms impacting function and persisting greater than three months (pLBP group, n = 20) and asymptomatic controls (control group, n = 19). A home sleep test device (Zmachine® Insight + , General Sleep Corporation) was used for three nights to ecologically assess sleep architecture and quality. Pain, psychosocial factors, and lumbar movement control were evaluated using standard testing.
The participants were 25.0 ± 4.8 yrs (mean±SD) with similar height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences in the pLBP and control groups. Deep sleep time was shorter (p = 0.034) for the pLBP (1.4 ± 0.4 hr) compared to the control group (1.7 ± 0.3 hr). For the pLBP group, deep sleep time and some sleep quality measures were associated with several pain-related anxiety, daily function, and impact measures independent of total sleep time.
These results indicate associations of sleep architecture and quality with pain experience in individuals with pLBP. Of all the sleep stages, the deep sleep stage may be more impacted by chronic pain than other stages.
疼痛和睡眠对健康与幸福都有广泛影响。疼痛与睡眠之间存在双向关联，但睡眠与疼痛如何长期关联仍不清楚。本研究调查了睡眠结构和质量与疼痛体验的关联及其对持续性下腰痛（pLBP）患者和无症状对照者的影响。
参与者包括当前正经历下腰痛且症状影响功能并持续超过三个月的个体（pLBP组，n = 20）和无症状对照者（对照组，n = 19）。使用家用睡眠测试设备（Zmachine® Insight +，通用睡眠公司）进行三晚的测试，以生态学方式评估睡眠结构和质量。使用标准测试评估疼痛、心理社会因素和腰椎运动控制。
参与者年龄为25.0±4.8岁（均值±标准差），pLBP组和对照组在身高、体重、腰围和臀围方面相似。与对照组（1.7±0.3小时）相比，pLBP组的深度睡眠时间较短（p = 0.034）（1.4±0.4小时）。对于pLBP组，深度睡眠时间和一些睡眠质量指标与一些与疼痛相关的焦虑、日常功能和影响指标相关，且独立于总睡眠时间。
这些结果表明pLBP患者的睡眠结构和质量与疼痛体验之间存在关联。在所有睡眠阶段中，深度睡眠阶段可能比其他阶段更容易受到慢性疼痛的影响。
