Familial Contributions to Self-Reported Sleep and Pain in Female Twins

Abstract

Objective The relationship between sleep quality and pain has been studied in populations with chronic pain and non-clinical populations in experimental paradigms. Little is known about the familial contributions to this relationship. This study examines self-reported sleep quality and pain in a non-clinical sample and to explore familial (i.e., shared genetic and common family environment) confounding in those relationships. Design Cross-sectional. Subjects 99 community-based female twin pairs (N = 198) with a mean age of 29 years; 72% monozygotic. Methods The short form McGill Pain Questionnaire (McGill), a visual analog scale (VAS), a body map, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) measured self-reported pain and sleep quality. Mixed model regression adjusted for age was used to examine relationships between the pain indices and PSQI in overall and within-pair models. Results Higher PSQI total scores were significantly associated with higher scores across the sensory (B = 0.37, p < 0.001), affective (B = 0.16, p < 0.001), total scores (B = 0.54, p < 0.001) on the McGill and the VAS (B = 2.41, p < 0.001), and number of sites with any pain on the body map (B = 0.42, p = 0.001). All of these associations were diminished and rendered non-significant in within-pair analyses that accounted for genetic and familial factors (all p’s α 0.01; Bonferroni α = 0.01). Conclusions These findings support an association between poor sleep quality and pain and suggest that this relationship may be confounded by shared genetic and environmental factors, which could elucidate biological mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of pain and sleep problems.

Polygenic evidence and overlapped brain functional connectivities for the association between chronic pain and sleep disturbance

“…The pleiotropic nature of genes implies that the PGS of chronic pain may also be associated with disturbed sleep and vice versa. The PGS association between chronic pain and sleep disturbance are consistent with phenotypic cross-sectional links and findings from previous twin studies which showed the relationship between sleep and pain to be confounded by shared genetic and environmental factors 9,10,50 .…”

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Sleep, Pain, and Depression Symptoms in a Community Sample of Twins

“…Depending on the condition (i.e., back pain, fibromyalgia), estimates of heritability for chronic pain have ranged from 25–68% (29), and the heritability of depression has been estimated at 31%–42% (30). Furthermore, recent work has suggested genetic contribution to the relationship between chronic pain and sleep quality (31) but was not able to evaluate the extent of this relationship. Overlap in the genetic factors contributing to sleep quality and depression has also been demonstrated (32) suggesting a shared etiology between these two phenotypes.…”