# The Impact of Insomnia on Pain, Physical Function, and Inflammation in HIV

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $741,001

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, despite adequate
opportunity for sleep attainment. As a result, people with insomnia may get too little sleep and/or have poor sleep
quality. Insomnia is a common and debilitating sleep disorder in persons living with HIV (PLWH), with prevalence
estimates ranging from 30-73%. Insomnia is increasingly viewed as a risk factor for the onset and/or worsening
of pain symptoms and physical functioning deficits. Insomnia has been found to promote enhanced pain
sensitivity (also known as hyperalgesia), which is critical to the etiology of pain in everyday life. This is particularly
relevant for PLWH because recent evidence attests to the fact that pain symptoms are quite prevalent in the
daily lives of PLWH. Whether insomnia is a risk factor for the experience of pain and poor physical functioning
in PLWH is a topic that has received minimal attention to date; therefore, additional research is needed.
Inflammatory processes represent an important biologic mechanism linking insomnia to pain and physical
function. Insomnia promotes systemic inflammation as well as inflammatory reactivity to physical stressors like
pain. Research conducted with non-HIV samples has shown that inflammation can substantially increase
sensitivity to painful stimuli in the laboratory setting, as well as exacerbate pain symptoms in everyday life and
physical disability. Taken together, insomnia may drive pain and physical function in PLWH through the
proliferation of inflammatory mediators. There is currently a need to elucidate mechanisms and mediators of
sleep disorders in PLWH, and the consequences and influences of these disturbances on other HIV-related
comorbidities. Accordingly, the overall objective of this proposal is to investigate the impact of insomnia on pain,
physical function, and inflammation in PLWH. We will accomplish our overall objective by addressing the
following specific aims: 1) determine whether insomnia promotes increased experimental pain sensitivity and
exaggerated inflammatory reactivity to painful stimuli in PLWH, and 2) determine if fluctuations in insomnia
burden over time drive inflammation and pain in everyday life, and physical functioning among PLWH. These
aims will be addressed using study methods developed and rigorously refined by our research team, and which
have previously yielded promising preliminary results suggesting that insomnia may indeed promote pain and
inflammation in PLWH. This approach is innovative because the impact of insomnia on pain and pain-related
inflammatory processes has never before been directly examined in PLWH. Furthermore, the incorporation of
objective as well as subjective measures of sleep and physical function, experimental pain testing, and a wide
array of pro- and anti-inflammatory biomarkers also contributes to the innovation of this proposal. The proposed
research will be significant ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9995570
- **Project number:** 5R01HL147603-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Burel R. Goodin
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $741,001
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-15 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9995570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9995570, The Impact of Insomnia on Pain, Physical Function, and Inflammation in HIV (5R01HL147603-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9995570. Licensed CC0.

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