Covid insomnia side effect8/12/2023 One might expect significantly higher rates of insomnia and psychological symptoms among this segment of the population. 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. The few published studies on this topic focused primarily on health-care workers and their findings indicated even higher rates of insomnia (34%–36%), 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. This study is noteworthy because it is among the first one to document insomnia and psychological symptoms in response to a pandemic, and the first to examine severity of those symptoms according to degree of threats of being infected with COVID-19. Despite this imperfect measure subject to recall bias, the data suggested a 37% increase in the rates of clinical insomnia (from 14.6% to 20%) from before to peak of COVID pandemic. Investigators also compared rates of insomnia before and during COVID-19 by asking participants to complete twice the Insomnia Severity Index, including a retrospective evaluation of insomnia prior to the pandemic (defined as the last three months of 2019). Insomnia and psychological symptoms were more severe among participants living in the epicenter (Hubei province) and among those who experienced higher degree of threats, ie, health-care workers and management staff on the front lines. ![]() Respondents were classified into four groups according to their level of exposure and threat to COVID-19 infection. The main findings, as expected, revealed very high rates of clinically significant insomnia (20%), acute stress (15.8%), anxiety (18.5%), and depression (24.5%). By acting so quickly, the investigators were able to capture the acute impact of the pandemic on sleep and psychological symptoms. 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. The paper by Lin and colleagues in this issue of Sleep Medicine 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 = 5641) living in China. Such a major stressful life event is also likely to have impaired sleep and circadian rhythms, at a time when healthy sleep is particularly important to cope adaptively with this crisis and uncertainty about the future. For many people, it has generated significant stress, anxiety, and worries about health, social isolation, employment, finances as well as the challenge of combining work and family obligations. Unlike those events, which are typically fairly localized, the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide crisis that has produced unprecedented changes in our lives. The emergence of sleep disturbances in response to major stressful events including natural disasters (eg, wildfires, earthquakes, floods) or wartime has been documented previously.
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