Dados do Trabalho

Título

Is there an association between physical activity, low back pain and sleep quality? Cross-sectional study with participants aged 60 years and over

Introdução

Low back pain (LBP) is among the main causes of years lived with disability, in addition to being closely associated with the aging process. Physical activity contributes to the improvement of sleep quality and the symptoms of LBP. However, few studies about the association between LBP and physical activity on the sleep pattern among older adults have been performed.

Objetivo

To investigate the relationship between physical activity, LBP and sleep quality in the older adults.

Métodos

Older adults aged 60 years or older and who reported symptoms of LBP for at least 3 months were included, through self-report after the question “have you had pain in the last 3 months?”, as answer options: yes or not. Physical activity was assessed with the Modified Baecke questionnaire for the older adults, and the classification was made based on percentile. Those above the 75th percentile were considered active, and the remaining were considered inactive. Sleep quality was evaluated with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Those who scored between 0 and 7 were grouped as a good sleeper, and above 7 as a poor sleeper.

Resultados

A total of 504 older adults participated in this study and the results found that 45% had LBP, 53% had poor sleep quality and 83% were inactive. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was no relationship between having poor sleep quality compared with those without LBP (P>0.05 [95% CI]). There was no significant effect of physical activity on the sleep of the elderly.

Conclusões

Older adults with low back pain were not more likely to have worse sleep quality and no effect of physical activity on sleep quality was observed.

Palavras -chave

Sleep, Physical activity, Older adults, Pain