Evaluation of sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in ankylosing spondylitis

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the sleep quality and the daytime sleepiness in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. Materials&Methods: The study enrolled 71 volunteering AS patients and 33 healthy volunteering individuals as the control group. The patients diagnosed with AS on the basis of the Modified Newyork Criteria for AS were evaluated by the Bath AS Metrology Index (BASMI), the Bath AS Disease Activity Index BASDAI, the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) and the AS Quality of Life (ASQol), the Pittsburgh Sleep Qualithy Index (PSQI), the Eppworth Sleepiness Index (ESI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) . The relationships between disease activity and the scorings on the PSQI and the ESI were analysed with the Pearson correlation test. Results: Mean age of the AS group was 37.54 (±10.21) years, with 55(77.5%)being males. Mean age of the control group was 35,55(±8,7)years, with 20 (60,6%)being males. Mean values of the disease activity and the life quality indices of the AS group are presented (Table 1). The mean PSQI total and subscale scores and the mean total ESI and BDI scores of the AS patients were significantly higher than the corresponding scores of the control group. Analysis by the Pearson correlation test of the relationship between the disease activity and the life quality indices and the total and subscale scores on the PSQI and the total scores on the ESI and BDI of the AS group gave a significant correlation (p=0,035)only between the PSQI subscale p6 score and SFERS (emotional role difficulty). Conclusion: The results of our study showed that sleep quality in AS patients was worse than healthy volunteers. It was also concluded that sleep quality did not correlate with disease activity, functional status and quality of life.