Does Spinal Cord Stimulation Improve Sleep Disturbances Independently of Pain Relief in Patients With Chronic Pain? An Explorative, Observational Study.

Objectives: Chronic pain poses a significant health challenge worldwide and is associated with both disability and reduced quality of life. Sleep disturbances are reported in 67% to 88% of patients with chronic pain. Pain and sleep affect each other reciprocally; we aimed to study this bidirectional relationship in patients treated with spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for chronic pain. Specifically, we investigated whether sleep improves after treatment with SCS and whether this improvement may be mediated by pain reduction.

Materials and methods: An observational cohort study was conducted in patients with chronic neuropathic pain treated with SCS at a single neurosurgical department in Denmark. Outcomes were assessed preoperatively and at three, six, and 12 months postoperatively, and thereafter annually. Primary outcomes were pain intensity (numeric rating scale) and insomnia at first follow-up (Insomnia Severity Index). The association between sleep and pain was investigated using linear regression and mediation analysis.

Results: Forty-three patients were included in the study. The mean insomnia score was reduced by 25% from 18.1 (SD 6.0) to 13.5 (SD 6.6) (p = 0.0001). Pain intensity was reduced 38% from 7.4 (SD 1.6) to 4.6 (SD 2.1) at the first follow-up (p ≤ 0.0001). Changes in pain and changes in insomnia scores were significantly but weakly associated (regression coefficient = 1.3, 95% CI [0.3; 2.2], p = 0.008, r² = 15.7%); and changes in pain score were not found to mediate changes in sleep score (β = -0.02, 95% CI [-0.15; 0.11], p = 0.76).

Conclusions: We found that patients treated with SCS showed significant improvements in both insomnia and pain intensity at first follow-up. Improvements in insomnia and pain intensity were significantly but weakly associated, and improvements in pain intensity score did not mediate improvements in insomnia score. Thus, improvements in self-reported insomnia in patients treated with SCS for chronic pain may predominantly be caused by other factors than reduced pain intensity.