Authors: Liu Xiaozheng, Wang Lijuan, Zheng Jisheng, Lu longxi, Guo Zhongwei.
Objective: Understanding the sleep quality of first-line medical staff responding to COVID-19 is of great significance in this special epidemic period.
Methods: A questionnaire was conducted via a WeChat working group to 150 first-line medical staff. All participants who felt that their sleep quality had declined were assessed using the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) voluntarily and anonymously, and further reported their preferred methods for improving sleep quality.
Results: 1. A total of 38 participants reported their sleep quality was declined. Of these, 27 had AIS scores ≥ 6 (objective insomnia), and 11 had AIS scores ranging from 1 to 5 (subjective insomnia). Women exhibited a higher incidence of objective insomnia than men (25.8%,5.3%). Nurses exhibited a higher incidence of objective insomnia than doctors and technicians (25.3%,4.4%,7.7%). 2. Participants with objective insomnia had more obvious depression symptoms than those with subjective insomnia (6.00[P50],1.00[P50]). The influencing factors for objective insomnia included disease factors, time factors, work factors, rhythm disturbance, somatic factors and emotional factors. 3. 92.6% of participants with objective insomnia felt that relaxation was the best way to improve sleep quality.
Conclusions: The results revealed a high prevalence of objective insomnia in front-line medical staff against COVID-19, which was closely related to the characteristics of the COVID-19 epidemic. Relaxation techniques may be an appropriate method for improving sleep quality
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