The study protocol was approved by, and registered with, the regional ethics review board in Linköping, Sweden, registration number 2010/385-31.

The prevalence of insomnia is high in patients with chronic pain conditions, but the level of importance in relation to other symptoms for health aspects is low, and the associations with other important symptoms are relatively weak. One way to increase the effects of multimodal rehabilitation programs may be to provide interventions directed specifically at insomnia rather than focusing only on interventions that address pain, depression and anxiety. Implications for Rehabilitation The prevalence of insomnia is high in patients with complex chronic pain conditions. Relatively low correlations existed between insomnia and pain intensity, depression, anxiety and other psychological aspects. Pain intensity, anxiety and depression were more important for perceived health aspects than insomnia. One way to increase the effects of multimodal rehabilitation programs may be to also include interventions directed directly to insomnia.

Objective Insomnia is the most commonly diagnosed comorbidity disorder among patients with chronic pain. This circumstance requests brief and valid instruments for screening insomnia in epidemiological studies. The main object of this study was to assess the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Swedish version of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). The ISI is a short instrument designed to measure clinical insomnia and one of the most common used scales both in clinical and research practice. However there is no study in Sweden that guarantees neither its factor structure nor its feasibility in chronic pain patients. We further examined the measurement invariance property of the ISI across the two sexes. Methods The ISI was administered to 836 (269 men and 567 women) chronic pain patients from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation. This study used demographic data, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Mental Summary Component (MSC) of the Health Survey (SF-36) and the item 7 from Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI). The sample was divided into two random halves: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed in the first sample (N1 = 334, 40%) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the second half of the sample (N2 = 502, 60%). The measurement and structural invariance of the proposed structure (4-item version) between the two sexes as well as reliability and validity indexes were further assessed. Results Exploratory factor analysis using the principal axis factoring method generated one global factor structure for the ISI, explaining 63.1% of the total variance. The one factor solution was stable between the two sexes. Principal component analysis was also applied and indicated almost identical results. The structure was further assessed by CFA, resulting in an adequate fit only after omitting three items. The difference on structural and measurement invariance in the loadings by participants' sex was not significant (Δχ2 = 10.6; df = 3; p = .69 and Δχ2 = 2.86; df = 3; p = 41 respectively). The shorter version four-item Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-4) was analysed further. The Chronbach's alpha for the global ISI-4 score was 0.88. The construct validity of the ISI-4 was also supported by the, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Mental Summary Component of quality of life and quality of sleep data. Pain intensity was significantly associated with the ISI-4 score (beta = .29, p < 001) whereas no significant correlation between four-item Insomnia Severity Index score and age was observed (p > 05). Conclusions and implications Although short, the four-item Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-4) version seemed to effectively assess insomnia in chronic pain patients. An important clinical implication is that the four-item Swedish Insomnia Severity Index can be used in chronic pain cohorts when screening for insomnia problems. Its measurement and structural invariance property across the two sexes shows that the ISI-4 is a valid measure of the insomnia across groups ...

BackgroundMost people suffering chronic pain are plagued by sleeping difficulties. Cognitive behaviour therapy has produced promising results for insomnia comorbid with chronic pain, but the access to such treatment is often limited. Over the last ten years, interventions aiming to increase cognitive flexibility and physical activity have been assumed to be effective treatments for a variety of conditions, including insomnia and chronic pain. If proven effective, these treatments could constitute the first steps in a stepped care model for chronic pain and insomnia.MethodsTwo hundred ninety-nine chronic pain subjects were randomized to Exercise, ACT-based stress management (ACT-bsm), or an active control group. Two hundred thirty-two participants (78%) received their allocated intervention at least to some extent. These participants were evaluated using mixed model analyses for changes in sleep (Insomnia Severity Index, ISI), pain intensity, depression, and anxiety immediately after treatment, six months and twelve months after treatment.ResultsThe mixed model analyses revealed that Exercise had a positive effect on insomnia compared with the control group and the effect remained after 12 months. No clear effect (i.e., both for completers and for completers together with treatment non-completers) upon ISI was found for the ACT-bsm. Pain intensity decreased significantly both in the exercise group and in the control group. For the two psychological variables (i.e., symptoms of anxiety and depression) were found significant improvements over time but no group differences. The treatment effects for ISI and pain intensity did not reach clinical significance per definitions presented in other relevant studies.ConclusionsBeneficial significant effects on insomnia was confirmed in the exercise condition. However, these changes were probably not clinically important. For pain intensity a general decrease was found in the Exercise condition and in the control condition, while no change occurred in ACT-bsm. No group differences were found for the two psychological variables.Trial registrationThe study was registered in Clinical Trials (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Id: NCT02399644, 21 January 2015, retrospectively registered).

Spreading of chronic pain can only partly be explained by the simultaneous levels of insomnia. Female sex, pain duration, pain interference and anxiety appear to have more significant relationships with the spread of pain. Targeting these factors may lead to improvements in treatment and prevention strategies.

Background Patients with chronic pain often experience insomnia symptoms. Pain initiates, maintains, and exacerbates insomnia symptoms, and vice versa, indicating a complex situation with an additional burden for these patients. Hence, the evaluation of insomnia-related interventions for patients with chronic pain is important. Objective This randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (ICBT-i) for reducing insomnia severity and other sleep- and pain-related parameters in patients with chronic pain. Participants were recruited from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation. Methods We included 54 patients (mean age 49.3, SD 12.3 years) who were randomly assigned to the ICBT-i condition and 24 to an active control condition (applied relaxation). Both treatment conditions were delivered via the internet. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a sleep diary, and a battery of anxiety, depression, and pain-related parameter measurements were assessed at baseline, after treatment, and at a 6-month follow-up (only ISI, anxiety, depression, and pain-related parameters). For the ISI and sleep diary, we also recorded weekly measurements during the 5-week treatment. Negative effects were also monitored and reported. Results Results showed a significant immediate interaction effect (time by treatment) on the ISI and other sleep parameters, namely, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, early morning awakenings, and wake time after sleep onset. Participants in the applied relaxation group reported no significant immediate improvements, but both groups exhibited a time effect for anxiety and depression at the 6-month follow-up. No significant improvements on pain-related parameters were found. At the 6-month follow-up, both the ICBT-i and applied relaxation groups had similar sleep parameters. For both treatment arms, increased stress was the most frequently reported negative effect. Conclusions In patients with chronic pain, brief ICBT-i leads to a more rapid decline in insomnia symptoms than does applied relaxation. As these results are unique, further research is needed to investigate the effect of ICBT-i on a larger sample size of people with chronic pain. Using both treatments might lead to an even better outcome in patients with comorbid insomnia and chronic pain. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03425942; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03425942

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

No abstract