Does the compromised sleep and circadian disruption of night and shiftworkers make them highly vulnerable to 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19)?

Silva, Flávia Rodrigues da; Guerreiro, Renato; Andrade, Henrique de Araújo; Stieler, Eduardo; Silva, Andressa; Mello, Marco Túlio de

doi:10.1080/07420528.2020.1756841

Cited by 51 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 118 publications

(148 reference statements)

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“…Accordingly, recent studies reported that individuals are waking up and sleeping later during the confinement, possibly influenced by the increased use of digital media near bedtime [ 1 ]. Also, reduced exposure to the sunlight, limited activity during the day, and alterations in the food time may lead to dysregulation in the circadian rhythms and, in consequence, may affect sleep [ 2 , 3 ]. Furthermore, sleep quality is closely related to the mood, which was demonstrably altered during this time [ 4 , 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decrease in sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak

et al. 2020

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Purpose The COVID-19 outbreak witnessed in the first months of 2020 has led to unprecedented changes in society's lifestyles. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of this unexpected context on sleep. Methods During the COVID-19 outbreak, we performed an online survey with individuals formerly recruited for validation of the Spanish version of the sleep questionnaire Satisfaction, Alertness, Timing, Efficiency, and Duration (SATED). In the current survey, we asked the participants to complete the previously answered questionnaires including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a modified version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the SATED questionnaire. We also assessed the mood by the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. Results The 71 participants were mostly women (75%) with a mean (± SD) age of 40.7 ± 11.9 years. Comparing the previous PSQI score to that during the COVID-19 outbreak, we observed worsening sleep quality (5.45 ± 3.14 to 6.18 ± 3.03 points, p = 0.035). In parallel, there was an increase in the negative mood (p = 0.002). Accordingly, the decrease in sleep quality was substantially correlated with negative mood (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the ESS or SATED. Conclusions The COVID-19 outbreak-associated events correlate with decreased sleep quality in association with an increase in negative mood. Considering the importance of sleep for a healthy life, and in particular for immune function, efforts should be made to improve awareness on this matter and to offer psychological assistance to affected individuals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decrease in sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak

et al. 2020

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“…A higher incidence and severity of respiratory infections has been reported among night shift workers [12]. These ndings support a signi cant relationship between disrupted circadian rhythms and an individual's increased vulnerability to infectious diseases and suggest that excess risk could also be observed among individuals with high LAN exposures for the infection of COVID-19 [2], a coronavirus causing the global pandemic in 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Co-distribution of Light at Night (LAN) and COVID-19 Incidence in the United States

Meng

Zhu

2021

Preprint

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Background: Light at night (LAN) as a circadian disruption factor may affect the human immune system and consequently increase an individual’s susceptibility or the severity of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. COVID-19 infections spread differently in each state in the United States (US). The current analysis aimed to test whether there is an association between LAN and COVID-19 cases in 4 selected US states: Connecticut, New York, California, and Texas.Methods: We analyzed clustering patterns of COVID-19 cases in ArcMap and performed a multiple linear regression model using data of LAN and COVID-19 incidence with adjustment for confounding variables including population density, percent below poverty, and racial factors. Results: Hotspots of LAN and COVID-19 cases are located in large cities or metro-centers for all 4 states. LAN intensity is associated with cases/1k for overall and lockdown durations in New York and Connecticut (P <0.001), but not in Texas and California. The overall case rates is significantly associated with LAN in New York (P <0.001) and Connecticut (P <0.001). Conclusions: We observed a significant positive correlation between LAN intensity and COVID-19 cases-rate/1k, suggesting that circadian disruption of ambient light may increase the COVID-19 infection rate possibly by affecting an individual's immune functions. Furthermore, differences in the demographic structure and lockdown policies in different states play an important role in COVID-19 infections.

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“…Furthermore, some evening-oriented individuals may be healthcare workers and thus can better adjust to the night-time work shift, enabling them to keep saving lives while others cannot function properly (e.g., Silva et al, 2017;Hittle and Gillespie, 2018). However, sleep deprivation interferes with immunity and self-regulation (Shields et al, 2017;Rantala et al, 2021), which might increase the risk of contamination with the new coronavirus, increasing shift workers' vulnerability especially in the healthcare frontline tackling the pandemic (Silva et al, 2020). Thus, not all eveningoriented individuals are a liability or non-compliant with the pandemic safety measures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Pandemic on Fire: Evolved Propensities for Nocturnal Activities as a Liability Against Epidemiological Control

et al. 2021

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Humans have been using fire for hundreds of millennia, creating an ancestral expansion toward the nocturnal niche. The new adaptive challenges faced at night were recurrent enough to amplify existing psychological variation in our species. Night-time is dangerous and mysterious, so it selects for individuals with higher tendencies for paranoia, risk-taking, and sociability (because of security in numbers). During night-time, individuals are generally tired and show decreased self-control and increased impulsive behaviors. The lower visibility during night-time favors the partial concealment of identity and opens more opportunities for disinhibition of self-interested behaviors. Indeed, individuals with an evening-oriented chronotype are more paranoid, risk-taking, extraverted, impulsive, promiscuous, and have higher antisocial personality traits. However, under some circumstances, such as respiratory pandemics, the psychobehavioral traits favored by the nocturnal niche might be counter-productive, increasing contagion rates of a disease that can evade the behavioral immune system because its disease cues are often nonexistent or mild. The eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis presented here suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evening-oriented psychobehavioral profile can have collectively harmful consequences: there is a clash of core tendencies between the nocturnal chronotype and the recent viral transmission-mitigating safety guidelines and rules. The pandemic safety protocols disrupt much normal social activity, particularly at night when making new social contacts is desired. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is contagious even in presymptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, which enables it to mostly evade our evolved contagious disease avoidance mechanisms. A growing body of research has indirectly shown that individual traits interfering with social distancing and anti-contagion measures are related to those of the nocturnal chronotype. Indeed, some of the social contexts that have been identified as superspreading events occur at night, such as in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Furthermore, nocturnal environmental conditions favor the survival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus much longer than daytime conditions. We compare the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis with other factors related to non-compliance with pandemic safety protocols, namely sex, age, and life history. Although there is not yet a direct link between the nocturnal chronotype and non-compliance with pandemic safety protocols, security measures and future empirical research should take this crucial evolutionary mismatch and adaptive metaproblem into account, and focus on how to avoid nocturnal individuals becoming superspreaders, offering secure alternatives for nocturnal social activities.

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Does the compromised sleep and circadian disruption of night and shiftworkers make them highly vulnerable to 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19)?

Cited by 51 publications

References 118 publications

Decrease in sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak

Decrease in sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak

Co-distribution of Light at Night (LAN) and COVID-19 Incidence in the United States

COVID-19 Pandemic on Fire: Evolved Propensities for Nocturnal Activities as a Liability Against Epidemiological Control

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