Sammenheng mellom kroniske muskel/skjelettsmerter med komorbid insomni og risiko for angst og depresjon

Forskere fra NTNU og St. Olavs hospital har i denne studien undersøkt sammenheng mellom kroniske muskel/skjelettsmerter med komorbid insomni og risiko for angst og depresjon blant 18.301 deltagere i HUNT-3 studien. Ved studiestart hadde ingen av studiedeltagerne angst eller depresjon, men ved 10 års oppfølging (HUNT-4) viste resultatene at personer med kroniske smerter med komorbid insomni har en spesielt høy risiko for angst og/eller depresjon, noe som tyder på at insomnisymptomer er en viktig årsak til sammenhengen mellom kroniske smerter og psykiske helseproblemer.

Publisert 12.05.2022

The interplay between multisite pain and insomnia on the risk of anxiety and depression: the HUNT study

Anna Marcuzzi, Eivind Schjelderup Skarpsno, Tom Ivar Lund Nilsen, Paul Jarle Mork

Studien er publisert i BMC Psychiatry

Background: Chronic musculoskeletal pain and insomnia frequently co-occur and are known independent risk factors for anxiety and depression. However, the interplay between these two conditions on the risk of anxiety and depression has not been explored.

Methods: A population-based prospective study of 18,301 adults in the Norwegian HUNT Study without anxiety or depression at baseline (2006-2008). We calculated adjusted risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for anxiety and/or depression at follow-up (2017-2019), associated with i) number of chronic pain sites, and ii) chronic pain and insomnia symptoms jointly.

Results: At follow-up, 2155 (11.8%) participants reported anxiety and/or depression. The number of pain sites was positively associated with risk of anxiety and/or depression (Ptrend, < 0.001). Compared to people without chronic pain and insomnia symptoms, people with ≥5 pain sites and no insomnia symptoms had a RR of 1.52 (95% CI: 1.28 to 1.81) for anxiety and/or depression, those with no chronic pain but with insomnia had a RR of 1.78 (95% CI: 1.33 to 2.38), whereas the RR among people with both ≥5 pain sites and insomnia was 2.42 (95% CI: 1.85 to 3.16). We observed no synergistic effect above additivity for the combination of ≥5 pain sites and insomnia on risk of anxiety and/or depression.

Conclusions: This study shows that people with multisite chronic pain who also suffer from insomnia are at a particularly high risk for anxiety and/or depression, suggesting that insomnia symptoms are important contributors to the association between multisite pain and common mental health problems.