Abstract
Aim: Chronic pain patients frequently complain of sleep problems. The purpose of this study is to search for the complaint of insomnia among chronic pain patients and, if present, to compare the sleep items within two different scales: one, observer-rated, and the other self-rated.
Method: The study was based on outpatients of a psychiatry clinic in a general hospital. The sample comprised 90 female patients, attending for the complaint of chronic pain. All patients were given a sociodemographic form to complete. Information was obtained on several aspects of the patients' pain, including site, severity, quality and duration. All patients were also questioned regarding their sleeping habits, such as, initial or late sleep disturbance, morning fatigue, daytime naps, total sleep in a 24 h period, and disturbance in different areas of functioning. The 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) were used to assess the severity of the patients' insomnia.
Results: The prevalence of sleep disturbance was found to be high in chronic pain patients. Patients with different sleeping habits differed on most measures, particularly pain severity.
Conclusion: Sleep disturbance contributes much to the patients' impairment and thus indicates psychological disturbance in patients with chronic pain. The concurrent validity among the insomnia items on the HRSD and BDI is discussed.
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