The Mediating Effect of Pain on the Relationship between Sleep Quality and Health-Related Quality of Life among Elderly Patients with Chronic Diseases: An Empirical Analysis Based on CHARLS Data

Ziyu Gui, Zimeng Liu, Meijie Zheng, Wenxiu Liu, Ran Hao, Xinping Zhang, Xian Li

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¹ Nursing and Rehabilitation College of North China University of Technology, Tangshan 063210, Hebei, China; Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, Hebei, China,

² Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, Hebei, China,

JCNR 2025 , 9(10), 399–408; https://doi.org/10.26689/jcnr.v9i10.12369

© 2025 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Abstract

Abstract:Objective:To explore the mediating effect of pain between sleep quality and health-related quality of life in elderly patients with chronic diseases. Methods: Based on the 2018 China Health and Aging Tracking Survey (CHARLS) data, 3,284 elderly patients with chronic diseases aged 60 or above were selected as the research subjects. The sleep quality, pain status, health-related quality of life, and demographic-related data of these elderly patients were obtained. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the correlations among the variables; linear regression models and Bootstrap repeated sampling method were used to analyze the mediating effect of pain between sleep quality and health-related quality of life. Results: Sleep quality was positively correlated with health-related quality of life (r=0.218,P<0.001), and pain was negatively correlated with sleep quality and health-related quality of life (r=-0.496, -0.067, P<0.001). The mediating effect results showed that pain played a partial mediating role between sleep quality and health-related quality of life in elderly patients with chronic diseases (effect value=0.049), and the mediating effect accounted for 23.33%. Conclusion: Pain is a mediating variable between sleep quality and health-related quality of life in elderly patients with chronic diseases. This suggests that clinical practice should incorporate pain assessment into the routine management of elderly patients with sleep disorders and chronic diseases. By alleviating pain, sleep quality can be improved, and subsequently, their health-related quality of life can be enhanced.

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