Gout Associated With Sleep Disorders, Frequent Daytime Sleepiness

In an online cross-sectional survey, individuals with physician-diagnosed gout commonly reported sleep disorders and other sleep-related complications, such as daytime sleepiness, according to results from a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

A group of 320 individuals who visited an online gout and uric acid education website completed an anonymized survey that evaluated several sleep-related parameters, including sleep quantity, quality, frequency of sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and other factors using validated sleep questionnaires. The researchers used chi-square and t-testing to compare both categoric and continuous variables, respectively.

After analysis, the researchers found that 23% of survey respondents reported having a physician-diagnosed sleep disorder. The most commonly reported disorder was sleep apnea, which was reported in 17% of respondents. In addition, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest degree of daytime sleepiness, the mean response score was found to be 3.5 (standard deviation, 2.6). In addition, 86% of respondents reported snoring during sleep and 45% reported having snorted, gasped, or stopped breathing while asleep.

The primary limitations of the study were the self-reported nature of sleep parameters and lack of body mass index measures.

“A large proportion of patients with gout also reported frequent snoring, snorting, gasping, or stopping breathing while asleep,” the researchers wrote. “Given [the] high prevalence of sleep disorders in people with gout, further studies are needed to examine the true rates and types of sleep disorders in gout.”

Reference

Singh JA. Self-reported sleep quality and sleep disorders in people with physician-diagnosed gout: an Internet cross-sectional survey. Arthritis Res Ther. 2019;21(1):36.