2/12/2024
People with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) who have moderate to high disease activity and who don’t exercise regularly are more likely to have poor sleep quality, according to a Scandinavian study.
While extensive research has shown that exercise improves cardiorespiratory fitness, physical function, spinal mobility, pain, and disease activity in people with axSpA, the effects of exercise on sleep have not been well studied. Previous research has mainly looked at the relationship between sleep quality and self-reported physical function in people with radiographic axSpA. However, there is limited information on how performance-based physical function, physical fitness, and spinal mobility affect sleep quality.
This study aimed to examine the prevalence of poor sleep quality in people with axSpA with moderate to high disease activity. The study also aimed to assess the relationship between sleep quality and physical function, cardiorespiratory fitness, and spinal mobility in people with moderate to high axSpA disease activity.
Ninety-nine patients with axSpA were included, 53% female, mean age 46 years, and 72% with high disease activity. Sleep disturbance was the most frequently reported symptom, followed by poor subjective sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and increased sleep latency.
While acknowledging their study’s limitations, such as small sample size, the researchers assert that their findings show sleep quality is a problem for many axSpA patients. Most patients have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and many have daytime dysfunction because of their poor sleep. The patients who have better physical function and cardiorespiratory fitness tend to have better sleep. However, there is no link between sleep quality and spinal mobility. These findings suggest that interventions that improve physical fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness could help patients with axSpA sleep better.
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