Neighborhood Disadvantage and Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: Do Sleep and Catastrophizing Play a Role?

The objective was to examine potential pathways linking neighborhood disadvantage to pain severity in individuals with knee pain consistent with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

The current investigation is a cross-sectional analysis. Data were collected from 140 middle-aged to older non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black adults from the Understanding Pain and Limitations in Osteoarthritic Disease Study 2 (UPLOAD-2). Relationships among neighborhood disadvantage, sleep efficiency, pain catastrophizing, and pain severity were assessed. Neighborhood disadvantage was quantified using the Area Deprivation Index, and actigraphy data were used to assess sleep efficiency. The Coping Strategies Questionnaire-Revised catastrophizing subscale and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain severity scale were used to assess pain catastrophizing and pain severity, respectively. A serial mediation model assessed the neighborhood-sleep-catastrophizing-pain pathway, as well as the neighborhood-sleep-pain and the neighborhood-catastrophizing-pain pathways.

Greater neighborhood disadvantage was associated with worse sleep efficiency, ultimately contributing to greater pain severity. Although neither neighborhood disadvantage nor sleep efficiency were associated with pain catastrophizing, pain catastrophizing itself was associated with greater KOA pain.

Neighborhood disadvantage impacts KOA pain outcomes through sleep efficiency but not pain catastrophizing, thereby highlighting environmental aspects that impact sleep as potential targets for intervention.