Limited information exists regarding sleep disorders in gout. Our objective was to assess the burden of sleep disorders in people with gout.
A brief anonymized Internet survey of people with physician-diagnosed gout who visited a gout education website assessed the frequency of sleep problems, sleep quality over the past 24 h (0 = best possible sleep, 10 = worst possible sleep), daytime sleepiness on a typical day (0 = none and 10 = most sleepy during the day), sleep quantity (number of hours of sleep), and the frequency of snoring or gasping, and snorting or stopping breathing during the sleep, using validated questionnaires, including the NHANES 2016 sleep questionnaire. We used Chi-square test to compare the categorical and t test the continuous variables.
Of the 454 website visitors who clicked the survey, 320 survey respondents reported physician-diagnosed gout. Mean age was 57 years (standard deviation [SD], 13.4), 72% were male, 77% were White, and mean gout duration was 7.6 (SD, 11). Of the respondents, 23% reported doctor-diagnosed sleep disorder (sleep apnea, 17%; sleep study ordered, diagnosis pending, 4%; other sleep disorder 2%). A mean 6.7 h of sleep per night was reported (SD, 1.3). Eighty-six percent reported snoring during sleep and 45% reported having snorted, gasped, or stopped breathing while asleep. Two thirds of the patients reported feeling sleepy during the day, at least 3-4 times a month or more. Sleep quality was 5.5 (SD, 2.6), and daytime sleepiness was 3.5 (SD, 2.6) on a 0-10 scale (higher = worse).
People with physician-diagnosed gout reported frequent sleep disorders and daytime sleepiness in an Internet survey. More in-depth studies are needed to better understand the association of gout with sleep disorders.