Background and aims
Chronic pain is a public health issue, with high prevalence and severe implications on individual’s daily life.  Costs for chronic pain put a heavy strain on societies and the health systems.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether aspects of sleep predict chronic pain, among young adults.
Methods
In this Swedish cohort-study a questionnaire was, in 2007, sent to a random sample of young adults, aged 20–24 years, with follow-ups after one and five years. The questions concerned demographics, lifestyle, work factors, health, sleep and pain.
The study sample is a subset of persons, pain-free in upper body at baseline: 2866 responders.
The outcome was chronic pain (> 3 months) in upper body (lower middle and upper back/neck, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers). Sleep variables were waking-up refreshed, short sleep and sleep problems (e.g., difficulty falling asleep, repeated awakening, early awakening). Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between sleep and chronic pain, adjusted for confounders with Inverse Probability Treatment Weights, based on propensity scores.
Results
For men, waking-up refreshed was associated with lower proportions of chronic pain after one year (OR: 0.45 [0.208-0.953]). For women, waking-up refreshed was associated with lower proportions of chronic pain after 5 years (OR: 0.57 [0.346-0.934]), and short sleep was associated with higher proportions of chronic pain after 5 years (OR: 2.0 [1.04-3.85]).
Conclusion
Early indications of sleep problems could be important to avoid vulnerability to develop chronic pain.

IS SLEEP PREDICTING CHRONIC PAIN IN A COHORT OF YOUNG ADULTS?