Long-term changes in self-reported sleep quality and risk of chronic musculoskeletal pain: The HUNT Study

We examined the association between long-term (~10 years) changes in self-reported sleep quality and risk of any chronic musculoskeletal pain and chronic widespread pain. The study comprised data on 6,033 people who participated in three consecutive surveys in the Norwegian HUNT Study (1995-1997, 2006-2008 and 2017-2019) and who were without chronic musculoskeletal pain at the first two surveys. We used a modified Poisson regression model to calculate adjusted risk ratios for chronic pain at follow-up (2017-2019) associated with categories of poor and good sleep quality reported in 1995-1997 and 2006-2008. Compared with people who reported good sleep at both surveys (crude absolute risk: 32.4%), the risk ratios of any chronic pain were 1.20 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.41) for those who changed from poor to good sleep; 1.25 (95% confidence interval: 1.12-1.39) for those who changed from good to poor sleep; and 1.41 (95% confidence interval: 1.21-1.63) for those who reported long-term poor sleep. The corresponding risk ratios for chronic widespread pain were 1.35 (95% confidence interval: 0.82-2.23), 1.55 (95% confidence interval: 1.14-2.12) and 2.09 (95% confidence interval: 1.38-3.17), respectively. In conclusion, these findings indicate that people with long-term poor sleep quality have a markedly higher risk of chronic musculoskeletal pain and chronic widespread pain, compared with people who remain good sleep quality.