P011 How Sex and Age moderate the effect of Sleep Loss on Pain Perception: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Females tend to exhibit increased sensitivity to pain and are more susceptible to developing chronic pain conditions. Sleep disturbances are comorbid with chronic pain and exacerbate pain symptoms. Sleep disturbances have been found to affect pain perception distinctly, but whether these effects are consistent in men and women is unclear. This systematic review investigated how sex and age moderate the sleep-pain interaction under various forms of sleep disturbances. We searched EBSCO, MEDLINE, Psych INFO, Science Direct, and Web of Science from January 2001 to November 2022. A total of 38 studies with 978 participants were included in the review. The meta-regression was conducted based on the predicted value of effect size and its estimated standard error at a significance level of 0.05. The results showed that sex moderated the effect of sleep disturbance on pain facilitation (SMD=.13; 95%CI:.004 to .022; p=.009) and pain inhibition (SMD=.033; 95%CI:.011 to .054; p=.005). Females exhibited increased pain facilitation and decreased pain inhibition, whereas males showed the opposite direction of effect. Further, age moderated the effects of total sleep deprivation (SMD=-.194; 95%CI -.328 to -.060; p=.008) on pain sensitivity and fragmented sleep (SMD=-.110; 95%CI: -.148 to -.072; p<.001) on pain threshold. Although the moderating effects of sex and age on the sleep-pain interaction were relatively small, these findings highlight the importance of considering these factors in future sleep-pain studies.