Sleep disturbance and pain in an obese residential treatment-seeking population

BACKGROUND: The relationships between body mass index (BMI) and sleep disturbance, sleep disturbance and pain, and obesity and pain are documented; however, there is a paucity of research exploring how sleep relates to pain in obese populations. METHOD: The participants comprized 386 (234 women, 152 men) obese (BMI M=40.7) adult (age M=51.0 y) patients enrolling in a 4-week residential obesity treatment program. All information was gathered as part of the initial program evaluation. RESULTS: The prevalence of patients reporting at least 1 disturbed sleep symptom was 84.8%. The prevalence of patients reporting at least 1 type of pain was 83.4%. After controlling for depression, anxiety, BMI, age, and sleep apnea treatment, regression analyses showed that daytime sleepiness, night sweats (P<0.01), difficulties falling asleep, and difficulties staying asleep (P<0.05) predicted the total number of pain symptoms reported by women. Among men, controlling for the same variables, fatigue (P<0