Daytime Sleepiness and Its Relationship with Disease Activity and Emotional State in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Objective:This study aimed to evaluate sleep disturbance in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to analyse the relationship between disease activity, anxiety/depression and pain level.Materials and Methods:Disease activity was assessed using the Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), sleep disturbance was evaluated by the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), pain level was evaluated by the visual analogue scale and emotional state was evaluated by the Beck depression inventory (BDI), state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) I and STAI II. Data were examined using independent samples t-tests and Pearson’s correlation analysis.Results:Daytime sleepiness, depressive mood and anxiety levels were higher in patients with AS than in healthy controls. The ESS score correlated with BASDAI, BDI, STAI I and STAI II. Patients with AS had a considerably impaired sleep quality compared with the healthy controls, and a strong correlation was found between sleep and mood. A positive correlation was also noted between disease activity/pain severity and sleep quality.Conclusion:Measuring sleep quality and mood is important for the comprehensive evaluation of the health status of patients with AS, which could provide valuable evidence for improving the management of disease and treatment decisions.