The immediate impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on subjective sleep status

Abstract

Background An outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been ongoing in China since January 2020. The threat of infection affects the work and life of most of the population and may also damage sleep. This study aims to examine the subjective sleep status and mental health of the population during the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic. Method The data were collected through an online questionnaire with a sample of 5461 individuals in China from February 5, 2020, to February 23, 2020. Participants were divided into four groups based on their degree of threat from COVID-19: Group 1 was most closely associated with COVID-19, including inpatients diagnosed with COVID-19, first-line hospital workers and first-line management staff; Group 2 included outpatients diagnosed with COVID-19 and patients who developed a fever and visited the hospital; Group 3 included people related to Group 1 or 2, such as their colleagues, relatives, friends and rescuers; and Group 4 was the farthest removed from contact with COVID-19, covering the general public affected by COVID-19 prevention strategies. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Acute Stress Disorder Scale (ASDS) were used. Results Threat degree of COVID-19 (groups) had significant correlations with insomnia, depression, anxiety, and stress (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Age, gender, and area (Hubei province or other provinces) had significant correlations with insomnia (p < 0.01). A total of 1380 (24.46%) participants were suspected of having major depression based on the PHQ-9. Additionally, 1042 (18.47%) participants were suspected of having generalized anxiety disorder based on the GAD-7. A total of 892 (15.8%) of the participants had Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) according to the ASDS. The prevalence of clinical insomnia during the outbreak was 20.05% (1131) according to the ISI. The factors of satisfaction with the current sleep pattern and how perceptible the symptoms of the current sleep pattern are to other people (p < 0.05) and the middle (difficulty staying asleep) and terminal (waking up too early) (p < 0.01) factors of the ISI were significantly different across groups. A total of 1129 (20.01%) participants spent more than one hour awake in bed. Conclusion The results indicated that insomnia is more severe in people who are female, young, living in the epicenter and experiencing a high degree of threat from COVID-19. As prevention and treatment efforts continue with regard to COVID-19, the general public has developed poor sleep hygiene habits, which deserve attention.

The acute effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on insomnia and psychological symptoms

“…The findings of Lin et al's [3] study have important clinical and public health implications. The immediate psychological impact of the pandemic suggests the need for rapid and concerted interventions to help people in distress cope with the aftermath of this unprecedented crisis.…”

“…The few published studies on this topic focused primarily on healthcare workers and their findings indicated even higher rates of insomnia (34%e36%), anxiety (45%) and depressive symptoms (50%) among those individuals relative to the general population, with the symptoms being more severe among front line workers directly involved with patients diagnosed or at risks for COVID-19 [4,5]. One weakness of the Lin et al's study is that older adults, clearly those most severely affected by this pandemic, represented only 2% of the sample [3]. One might expect significantly higher rates of insomnia and psychological symptoms among this segment of the population.…”

“…The paper by Lin and colleagues in this issue of Sleep Medicine [3] reports on a timely study that investigated the early impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sleep and psychological symptoms in a large sample of adults (N ¼ 5641) living in China. Both health care workers and adults from the general population completed an online survey of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and acute stress during the peak of COVID-19 spread in China in early to mid-February 2020.…”

Identifying the Associated Risk Factors of Sleep Disturbance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Bangladesh: A Web-Based Survey

“…This is the most widely used tool in community surveys for physical and mental health evaluation (43)(44)(45). Features that might be related to sleep quality evaluated by previous studies were included in the questionnaire (46)(47)(48). Moreover, some hypothesized risk factors of sleep disturbance in the context of COVID-19 and new normal life during the lockdown were also included in the questionnaire.…”

Child and parent physical activity, sleep and screen time during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic nationally representative data and associations with mental health

“…Unadjusted and adjusted models examining the association between movement behaviors and mental health outcomes for CPAS parents during the pandemic are summarized in Table 5. In adjusted models, lower levels of physical activity and poorer sleep A growing body of research has demonstrated an increase in sleep problems in the general population as a result of the COVID pandemic, [34][35][36][37] however, these studies have not systematically compared rates of sleep problems to pre-pandemic levels and/or have not focused on parents and children specifically. The higher levels of child sleep problems and irregular bedtime reported by parents in the CPAS cohort, and the connection between child sleep problems and indicators of poorer mental health, suggest that sleep may be an important modifiable factor to improve children's functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”