Association between sleep quality and musculoskeletal disorders among emergency department nurses

Abstract

The connection between sleep disorders and chronic musculoskeletal pain is bidirectional, as inadequate sleep can amplify muscle tension, whereas chronic pain can reduce sleep quality. Both disorders are highly prevalent in nurses. This article aims to evaluate the correlation between sleep quality and musculoskeletal symptoms in the nursing team of a university hospital. We designed a cross-sectional study that included 40 nursing practitioners who work exclusively in the emergency department. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to verify the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and the sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Most of the professionals were overweight and had at least one chronic comorbidity. The highest prevalence of symptoms was at the lower back. There is a nine fold increased risk of presenting musculoskeletal symptoms for professionals with poor sleep quality (OR = 9.0 [95% CI, 1.5-53.9]).