Poor Sleep May Lead to Fibromyalgia

Since 1991, a primary health complaint of Gulf War veterans has been severely disturbed sleep.  Now, a new study suggests poor sleep may be a risk factor for developing Fibromyalgia, a chronic multi-symptom illness involving widespread and often debilitating pain.

Fibromyalgia is one of several conditions that are "presumptive" for veterans of the 1991 Gulf War.

--Anthony

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HealthDay:  Poor Sleep May Lead to Fibromyalgia in Women

Sleep problems linked to the painful condition, especially in middle age and beyond, study says

November 14, 2011 RSS Feed Print

MONDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep problems are associated with an increased risk of fibromyalgia in women, especially those who are middle-aged and older, a new study says.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic musculoskeletal pain condition that affects more than 5 million adults in the United States. Women account for up to 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia, which typically begins in middle age.

Previous research has found that insomnia, nighttime awakening and fatigue are common symptoms experienced by fibromyalgia patients, but it wasn't known if sleep problems contribute to the development of fibromyalgia.

Norwegian researchers enrolled 12,350 healthy women, 20 years and older, with no musculoskeletal pain or movement disorders and followed them for 10 years. At the end of that time, 327 (2.6 percent) of the women had developed fibromyalgia.

The study found that the adjusted relative risk of fibromyalgia among women who often or always had sleep problems was 5.41 among those older than 45 and 2.98 among those ages 20 to 44.

The study appears online Nov. 14 in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

"Our findings indicate a strong association between sleep disturbance and fibromyalgia risk in adult women," Dr. Paul Mork, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said in a journal news release. "We found a dose-response relation, where women who often reported sleep problems had a greater risk of fibromyalgia than those who never experienced sleep problems."

While the study found an association between poor sleep and fibromyalgia, it did not demonstrate a cause and effect.

Further research is needed to determine whether early detection and treatment of sleep problems can reduce fibromyalgia risk in women, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about fibromyalgia.