0845 Individuals with Persistent Low Back Pain Have Less Time in Deep Sleep Stage than Asymptomatic Controls

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Sleep consists of stages of light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM), which have different characteristics. These stages are thought to be associated with different physiological and psychological processes. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience generated by neural activity that potentially impacts several networks in the brain. There is limited information regarding the potential association between objectively determined sleep characteristics and persistent low back pain (pLBP). The purpose of this study was to examine whether sleep characteristics differ between individuals with pLBP and asymptomatic controls. Methods Individuals in a current episode of back pain with symptoms impacting function and persisting greater than 3 months (pLBP group, n=20) and asymptomatic individuals (control group, n=16) participated in the study. They wore a home sleep test device (Zmachine® Insight+, General Sleep Corporation) for three nights. Results The pLBP and control groups had similar age (24.8 ± 5.8 and 25.4 ± 4.3 years, respectively; mean ± SD), height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences. The two groups also had similar total sleep time (6.0 ± 1.2 and 6.6 ± 1.0 hours, for pLBP and control groups, respectively), sleep efficiency (82.8 ± 8.8% and 84.9 ± 5.7%), and wake time after sleep onset (35.8 ±27.4 and 31.5 ±18.1 minutes). The duration in REM (1.5 ± 0.5 and 1.5 ± 0.6 hours) and light sleep (3.1 ± 0.7 and 3.4 ± 0.9 hours) stages were also similar. However, the pLBP group had less deep sleep time (1.4 ± 0.4 hours) than the control group (1.7 ± 0.3 hours) (p = 0.029). Conclusion Individuals with pLBP had less deep sleep time than asymptomatic controls, although other objectively determined sleep characteristics appear to be similar. These results suggest an association between the deep sleep stage and persistent low back pain that requires further investigation. Support (if any) National Institutes of Health R01HD095959 and University of South Carolina ASPIRE 80004373.