Evaluation of Sleep Quality by Actigraphy in Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

Abstract

Despite the small number of studies about sleep quality and its possible occurrence in SLE, it is a frequent complaint among patients. This study evaluated sleep quality using actigraphy and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) in 46 women with SLE and the relationship between disease activity, cumulative damage, quality of life, pain intensity, fatigue, and medication to treat the disease, as well as the influence of pain intensity (subgroups) on quality of life. The short-form 36 health survey (SF-36) assessed health related quality of life (HRQoL), the fatigue severity scale (FSS) assessed fatigue, and the visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate pain intensity. The significance level was 5%. Objective and subjective measures were concordant in sleep latency. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed using categorized VAS pain as a dependent variable, we found an association with sleep latency (actigraphy), PSQI global score, six components of the SF-36 (physical functioning, role physical or role limitations due to physical problems, bodily pain, vitality, social functioning, role emotional or role limitations due to emotional problems), and fatigue. In the final analyses, using multivariate logistic regression, the model showed that the predicting variables for HPG (high pain group) and LPG (low pain group) were sleep latency and fatigue. Perhaps we did not find associations between sleep and quality of life as other factors were more relevant, such as pain and fatigue.