Poor sleep worsens knee pain in young adults

Knee pain in young adults appears to be aggravated by sleep disturbances, as suggested in a study.

Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of the 5-year follow-up of a prospective cohort study. The sample comprised 523 young adults who completed a survey for knee pain in 2011 and followed up 5 years later.

Five-year follow-up assessments included clinical pain intensity, pain-related outcomes, quality of life, and physical activity. Sleep quality was scored as good, moderate, or poor.

Of the respondents, 177 reported experiencing knee pain at both time points while 85 did not. In the group of respondents with knee pain, those with poor sleep had worse Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) scores across all domains (p<0.05) relative to those with good sleep.

Additionally, poor sleep had a negative impact on quality of life (p<0.001), mood (p<0.05), and everyday life (p<0.001).

Overall, respondents with poor vs good sleep in both the knee pain and control groups reported more pain sites per month (p<0.01). Moreover, pain medication usage was significantly higher among respondents in the knee pain group with poor vs good sleep (p<0.05).

The findings underscore the importance of developing strategies to address sleep disturbances in young adults in order to mitigate pain-related suffering and to increase quality of life, the researchers said.