Recently, the degree of cellular aging has also been implicated in sleep disturbance and chronic pain in a study. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a prevalent musculoskeletal pain disorder that has proposed to be a serious public health concern enforcing significant costs on society. Sleep disturbances are pervasive in FMS and proved to be a potential mechanism for pain and related symptoms.

To estimate the relation between telomere length (TL), pain sensitivity, sleep and in FMS women and healthy sedentary (HS) women, an investigatory study was conducted. A total of 23 FMS women and age-matched 19 HS women were enrolled in the study. Each participant underwent a series of thermal ischemic pain testing, completed questionnaires and blood tests. A 7-day home actigraphy assessment was completed after blood testing.

Results evaluated that FMS women had significantly lower pain thresholds (p<0.05) and had greater FMS related symptoms (p<0.05) than the HS women. Relative to the HS women, greater sleep disturbance with self-report diary (p<0.05) were reported in FMS women, but not with actigraphy sleep parameters. Total length analysis was comparable between the groups. Significant correlations were found between thermal pain threshold (p<0.05) and TL, with the longer TL related to greater pain sensitivity. Actigraph WASO (wake after sleep onset) and overall time in bed were also significantly concerned with longer TL (p<0.05). Separate correlational analysis showed differential associations between sleep and pain. Greater ischemic pain tolerance was associated with greater WASO and poorer sleep efficiency for FMS women whereas higher thermal threshold was associated with greater sleep efficiency and decreased WASO in HS women.

Overall, it was concluded that cellular aging might be uniquely related to pain sensitivity and sleep quality.