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Relationship between sleep and pain in Cavalier King Charles spaniels
Allie R Sherman1, Mindy A Quigley1, Stephen R Werre2
1Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Background:
Cavalier King Charles spaniels (CKCS) have a high frequency of chronic pain and may have abnormal sleep patterns. We hypothesised that CKCS with neuropathic pain (elevated NeP score) would have an increased nighttime restlessness (sleep and nighttime restless [SNoRE 3.0] score) and a worse quality of life (QOL).
Methods:
Owners of CKCS were recruited to complete an online survey, including demographic information, the SNoRE 3.0 sleep survey, the NeP survey and QOL.
Results:
The median SNoRE 3.0 score was 12.5, the median NeP score was 0.83 and the median QOL score was 2. The Spearman correlation coefficient between SNoRE 3.0 and NeP was 0.381 (p = 0.0012), between SNoRE 3.0 and QOL was 0.29 (p = 0.014) and between NeP and QOL was 0.58 (p < 0.0001).
Limitations:
This is a questionnaire-based study with a small sample size. Due to the study design, diagnoses are not confirmed.
Conclusions:
These data indicate that there is a positive correlation between owner survey responses regarding increased nighttime restlessness, worse NeP and worse QOL.
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