FWD:Inventory Helps Identify Sleep Disorders Due to Chronic Pain

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Inventory Helps Identify Sleep Disorders Due to Chronic Pain: Presented at AAPM
By Jerry Ingram

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- February 12, 2007 -- A new instrument called the Chronic Pain Sleep Inventory (CPSI) may help doctors better evaluate the impact of pain on their patients' quality of sleep, researchers reported here at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 23rd Annual Meeting (AAPM).

"Generally, patients who have chronic pain also have interrupted sleep, as we all know. However, there are very few instruments that capture the relation between pain and sleep," said Anuprita Patkar, PhD, consultant, Ortho-McNeil Janseen Scientific Affairs, Raritan, New Jersey.

Dr. Patkar and colleagues evaluated the validity of the 5-question Chronic Pain Sleep Inventory. She presented their findings on behalf of the study's authors on February 8th.

"We analyzed the data and found that definitely reduction in pain will help improve sleep," she explained. "We were able to establish that there is a construct with CPSI."

For this investigation, the researchers collected data from 12-week, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. The 4 trials included a total of 2,674 patients with chronic osteoarthritis and low back pain.

The investigators in the 4 clinical trials used the CPSI to assess the efficacy of once-daily tramadol extended-release in this patient population.

The CPSI incorporates 5 items -- trouble falling asleep, needing sleep medication, awakenings due to pain in the night and morning, and overall quality of sleep. The team used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the underlying structure of the CPSI.

In addition, the researchers used "known-groups validity method to test the discriminant validity of the CPSI," noted investigators.

Results showed that a single sleep-problems index could be scored from 3 of the CPSI items (CPSI 1, 3, and 4) with all of the CPSI scales significantly discriminating between patient groups with a statistical significance of P < .001.

The team concluded that the sleep problems index appears psychometrically valid, but pointed out that this study and its findings are preliminary and need further analysis.


[Presentation title: Psychometric Evaluation of the Chronic Pain Sleep Inventory (CPSI). Poster 121]