Insomnia in Patients Participating in Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation

Insomnia is a vast problem among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Despite the close relation between pain and sleep, sleep quality has received little attention in rehabilitation programs for patients with pain. So far, there is a lack of studies investigating the association between insomnia and chronic pain in patients referred to interdisciplinary rehabilitation. Identifying subgroups of the population with higher burden of poor sleep will aid clinicians to tailor treatment and prevention strategies. Moreover, knowledge on how insomnia symptoms fluctuate throughout the rehabilitation program and how insomnia symptoms interact with factors such as mental distress, physical activity, and fatigue impact on patient's recovery (e.g., the prognosis of pain, quality of life, and work participation) can be used to develop and implement more successful rehabilitation programs.

This is a cohort study primarily designed to address sleep problems in patients referred for pain rehabilitation by using questionnaire data from the rehabilitation centers linked to registry data. This study will constitute both a cross-sectional survey among patients referred to rehabilitation before they participate in rehabilitation. In addition to questionnaires, administrative data and clinical data, these data will be linked to national health registries on prescriptions, health care use and sickness absence. Potential participants are patients referred to rehabilitation at five different Unicare rehabilitation centers in Norway (Unicare Helsefort, Unicare Coperio, Unicare Hokksund, Unicare Friskvern and Unicare Jeløy) due to long-term pain complaints.