Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Pain: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Aim: The present study aims to investigate the relationship between chronic widespread musculoskeletal
 system pain (CWP) and neuropathic pain (NP) among patients, who were diagnosed with obstructive
 sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).
 Material and Methods: For this cross-sectional study, the study was carried out in sleep polyclinic of
 Uşak University’s Medical Faculty Hospital between 1 May 2017 and 1 February 2018. The patients,
 who applied to the sleep polyclinic for the complaint of sleep disorder and were diagnosed with OSAS by
 using polysomnography (PSG) but haven’t had a treatment for this purpose yet, were involved..
 Results: Examining the PSG results of participants, mild OSAS was detected in 16 cases, moderate
 OSAS in 15 cases, and severe OSAS in 26 cases. Pain was detected in minimum 1 region in 89% of
 the cases, whereas 38.5% of participants were found to have neuropathic pain (NP). NP was found to
 linearly increase with an increase in degree of OSAS (p=0.049). According to Pittsburgh Sleep Quality
 Index (PSQI) scores, 54% (n=31) of the participants had poor sleep quality, and according to Health
 Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) scale scores, 36% (n=21) of the participants had low quality of
 life (QoL). When examining the differences between groups, due to the variables not being normally
 distributed, the Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis-H Tests were utilized. to investigate the relationships
 among variables that do not follow a normal distribution, Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient was
 employed.
 Conclusion: CWP and NP were found to accompany each other among those with OSAS. The
 prevalence of NP increases with an increase in degree of OSAS. The QoL and quality of sleep among
 those with OSAS with pain were poorer than those having no pain. Women with OSAS were found to
 have higher pain and lower QoL when compared to men.