Objective sleep efficiency moderates the association between depressive symptoms and experimental heat pain sensitivity in pain-free adults: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Depression is highly comorbid with pain, yet experimental evidence reports inconsistent (either increased or decreased) pain sensitivity in depression. Recent evidence also highlighted the role of sleep in altered pain perception. Sleep may moderate the depression-pain relationship, although this remains unexplored in pain-free populations. This study examined whether depressive symptoms are associated with pain sensitivity and whether sleep moderates this effect. We hypothesized that higher depressive symptoms would predict lower pain sensitivity (higher pain thresholds) and that higher sleep efficiency would attenuate this relationship. Methods Participants ( N = 49; 34 females)..