The Evaluation of Sleep Disturbances for Chinese Frontline Medical Workers under the Outbreak of COVID-19

SummaryBackgroundThe outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in China remains to be a serious challenge for frontline medical workers (fMW). They are under high risk of being infected and high mental stress, which may lead to sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate sleep disturbances of fMW and made a comparison with non-fMW. The medical workers from multiple hospitals in Hubei Province, China, were volunteered to participate. An online questionnaire, including Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), was used to evaluate sleep disturbances and mental status of fMW. Sleep disturbances were defined as PSQI>7 points or/and AIS>6 points. We compared the scores of PSQI, AIS, anxiety and depression VAS, and prevalence of sleep disturbances between fMW and non-fMW. Subgroup analysis for different gender in fMW was conducted.FindingsA total of 1306 subjects (including 801 fMW and 505 non-fMW) were enrolled. Compared to non-fMW, fMW had significantly higher scores of PSQI (p< 0.0001), AIS (p<0.0001), anxiety (p<0.0001) and depression (p=0.0010), and higher prevalence of sleep disturbances with PSQI > 7 points (p<0.0001) and AIS > 6 points (p<0.0001). In subgroup analysis, compared to male fMW, female fMW had significantly higher scores of PSQI (p=0.022) and higher prevalence of sleep disturbances with PSQI > 7 points (p<0.0001).InterpretationfMW had higher prevalence of sleep disturbances and worse sleep quality than non-fMW. Female fMW were more vulnerable to having sleep disturbances than male fMW.FundingNone.