Ethnic Differences In The Relationship Between Self-Reported Sleep Quality And Bodily Pain During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Results From The Oklahoma Study Of Native American Pain Risk (OK-SNAP)

Native Americans (NAs) face greater risk of experiencing pain than non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). Additionally, poor sleep quality is associated with increased pain. Since the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively impacted sleep quality, the present study investigated ethnic differences in the relationship between sleep quality and bodily pain. Online surveys were sent in May/June 2020 (T1), March/April 2021 (T2), and September/October 2021 (T3) by 77 NAs and 100 NHWs. Bodily pain was reported from the PHQ-15 and sleep quality from the PSQI. NAs reported poorer sleep quality than NHWs, but sleep quality did not change over time and ethnicity did not moderate change over time. Thus, sleep quality was averaged across time and used to create 3 categories (poor, fair, good sleep). Sleep quality, ethnicity, and time were entered in a multilevel ANOVA predicting bodily pain. Results found a significant Time x Ethnicity x Sleep Quality interaction. NAs and NHWs with poor sleep quality reported the highest pain, which did not change over time. NAs and NHWs with good sleep quality reported the lowest pain, which did not change over time. However, NAs with fair sleep quality did not differ from NAs with good sleep quality at T1, but at T2 and T3 pain increased to the level of NAs with poor sleep quality. NHWs with fair and good sleep quality did not differ across time points. These results suggest lower sleep quality is associated with more bodily pain, particularly in NAs. Future research may clarify the directionality of this relationship. This research was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MD007807, and by the University of Tulsa Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the University of Tulsa.