Dados do Trabalho

Título

Influence of sleep quality on psychometric characteristics and pain in Symptomatic Temporomandibular Disorders Patients seeking care at private practice unit

Introdução

Extensive literature has demonstrated that poor sleep quality, anxiety symptoms and catastrophizing contribute to the worsening of patient's condition, reducing their ability to modulate pain and increasing the painful intensity.

Objetivo

The aim of the present investigation was to verify the association between sleep quality, pain characteristics and psychometric scores TMD patients’ attended at an orofacial pain private practice unit.

Métodos

Symptomatic adult patients, (n=44, 79.5% women, 36.9 ± 15.6 years), with at least one of the axis I diagnoses assessed by the Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (DC/TMD) were selected for sample. Initially, patients completed the questionnaires: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). The sample was divided into 2 groups based on the PSQI: poor sleep quality and good sleep quality. Pain intensity was measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and pain duration was recorded in months.

Resultados

In the sample, 63.64% had myalgia, 18.18% arthralgia, 18% were both diagnostic and 72.73% had pain for more than 6 months. Negative correlations were found between age and pain intensity; age and anxiety symptoms. The GAD-7 results correlated positively with the PSQI and PCS scores. Patients who reported poor sleep quality had more symptoms of anxiety (p = 0.009) and catastrophic thoughts in relation to pain (p = 0.006); of these, 93.7% had pain for more than 6 months.

Conclusões

Poor sleep quality was significantly associated with high levels of anxiety, catastrophizing and pain duration in TMD patients.

Palavras-chave

temporomandibular disorders, pain, catastrophizing, anxiety, sleep