Orofacial pain experience among symphony orchestra musicians in Finland is associated with reported stress, sleep bruxism, and disrupted sleep - independent of the instrument group

Abstract

Background To evaluate whether oro‐facial pain experience was related to the type of musical instrument and to learn more about the roles of sleep and sleep‐related issues in the pain among professional musicians.

Objectives A standard questionnaire was sent to all Finnish symphony orchestras (n = 19), with altogether 1005 professional musicians and other personnel.

Methods The questionnaire covered descriptive data, instrument group, items on perceived quality of sleep, possible sleep bruxism, stress experience and oro‐facial pain experience during the past 30 days.

Results In the present study, which included the musicians only, the response rate was 58.7% (n = 488). All orchestras participated in the study, and there was no significant difference in the response rate between the orchestras. The mean age of men (52.3%) was 47.7 (SD 10.3) and of women (47.7%) was 43.4 (SD 9.8) years (P < 0.001). Overall, current pain in the oro‐facial area was reported by 28.9%, frequent bruxism by 12.1% and frequent stress by 20.8%. According to Somers' d, there were statistically significant but moderate correlations between overall pain reports in the oro‐facial area and disrupted sleep (d = 0.127, P = 0.001), sleep bruxism (d = 0.241, P < 0.001) and stress experiences (d = 0.193, P < 0.001). Logistic regression revealed, independent of the instrument group (string, woodwind, brass wind, percussion), that current oro‐facial pain experience was significantly associated with disrupted sleep (P = 0.001), frequent sleep bruxism (P < 0.001) and frequent stress (P = 0.002) experiences.

Conclusions Among symphony orchestra musicians, oro‐facial pain experience seems to be related to perceptions of stress, sleep bruxism and disrupted sleep rather than the instrument group.