Pain, sleep, and health-related quality of life after multidisciplinary intervention for chronic pain

• Published in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Main Authors: Skúladóttir, Hafdís, Sveinsdóttir, Herdís, Holden, Janean E., Gunnarsdóttir, Þóra Jenný, Halldórsdóttir, Sigríður, Björnsdóttir, Amalía
• Other Authors: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Promotion, Sports and Leisure Studies, School of Health Sciences, University of Akureyri
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Svefn; Lífsgæði; Langvinnir sjúkdómar; Verkir; Chronic pain; Health-related quality of life; Rehabilitation; Sleep; Chronic Pain/therapy; Prospective Studies; Humans; Pain Management; Quality of Life; Female; Child; Public Health; Environmental and Occupational Health; Pollution; Health; Toxicology and Mutagenesis; Akureyri; Iceland; University of Akureyri
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/2767; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910233

Funding: The University of Akureyri Research Fund (R1508, R1609, R1705, R1906), Research Fund of Ingibjörg R. Magnúsdóttir, Memorial Fund of Kristín Thoroddsen, and KEA Research Fund are thanked for funding. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Multidisciplinary pain-management programs have the potential to decrease pain intensity, improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and increase sleep quality. In this longitudinal prospective cohort study, the aim was to investigate the long-term effects of multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation interventions in Iceland. More precisely, we (a) explored and described how individuals with chronic pain evaluated their pain severity, sleep, and HRQOL at pre-treatment and at one-year follow-up and (b) examined what predicted the participants’ one-year follow-up HRQOL. Seventy-nine patients aged 20–68 years, most of whom were women (85%), responded. The participants scored their pain lower at one-year follow-up (p < 0.001). According to their response, most of them had disrupted sleep, mainly because of pain. One year after the treatment, more participants slept through the night (p = 0.004), and their HRQOL increased. Higher pre-treatment mental component summary (MCS) scores and having pursued higher education predicted higher MCS scores at one-year follow-up, and higher pre-treatment physical component summary (PCS) scores predicted higher PCS scores at one-year follow-up. Sleep problems, being a woman, and having children younger than 18 years of age predicted lower MCS scores at one-year follow-up. These findings are suggestive that patients should be examined with respect to their mental status, and it could be beneficial if they received some professional support after completing the intervention. Peer reviewed