Evaluation of pain sensitivity by tender point counts and myalgic score in patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the difference between patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) with respect to pain sensitivity.

Method: The study was conducted on 31 womens diagnosed with OSAS and 31 healthy women. All patients underwent polysomnographic testing. A pressure algometer (dolorimeter) was used to measure the pressure pain threshold. Fibromyalgia was diagnosed based on the 1990 American College of Rheumatology diagnosis criteria.

Results: The myalgic score was 73.95 ± 18.09 in patients with OSAS, while this value was 84.18 ± 24.31 in the control group. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (P = 0.041).The number of tender points was 8.19 ± 3.35 in the patient group with OSAS, while this number was 6.35 ± 2.23 in the control group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.014). No statistically significant differences were found between age, body mass index, Beck depression scores, control point score and the presence of fibromyalgia, between the two groups (P > 0.05). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the myalgic scores and mean saturation O (%) values of the patients (r = 0.357; P = 0.049).

Conclusion: The differences noted between OSAS patients and the control group with respect to myalgic score and the number of tender points suggest that there might be a relation between OSAS and pain sensitivity. There might be an association between low oxygen saturation and total myalgic score.