PI: Teresa M. Ward; Co-Investigators: Tonya Palermo, Anne Stevens, Sarah Ringold
UW School of Nursing Research Intramural Funding Program (Betty Giblin)
Sleep deficiency, including reduced quantity and quality of sleep, is a public health concern that contributes to poorer quality of life, cardiovascular metabolic dysfunction (obesity), and increased health care use in youth. Our prior work in juvenile arthritis and chronic pain show that sleep deficiency is common and interrelated with pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. This proposal will examine a sleep deficiency in youth with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects underrepresented minorities (females) who experience pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. To date sleep deficiency is highly comorbid in adults with SLE, but less is known about sleep in youth diagnosed with SLE, leaving a critical gap in care for this population. Sleep deficiency is a novel pathway for understanding the increased rates of pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue in youth with SLE. This cross-sectional pilot study will examine sleep deficiency and the temporal daily associations between sleep and symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue in youth with SLE to a comparison age, sex, and race matched controls.