Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020;22(10):29.
doi: 10.1007/s11940-020-00642-4. Epub 2020 Aug 6.

COVID-19 and Sleep in Medical Staff: Reflections, Clinical Evidences, and Perspectives

Luigi Ferini-Strambi  1   2 , Marco Zucconi  2 , Francesca Casoni  2 , Maria Salsone  2   3
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 and Sleep in Medical Staff: Reflections, Clinical Evidences, and Perspectives

Luigi Ferini-Strambi et al. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2020.

Abstract

Purpose of the review: There is evidence that, before the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19), healthcare workers did not experience good sleep quality with relevant consequences on health. By contrast, little is known about the sleep quality of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this review, we aimed to contribute with a review of the literature, sharing our clinical experience supported by actigraphic evaluation and by proposing future strategies.

Recent findings: Sleep disorders, in particular insomnia, have been commonly reported in frontline medical workers, in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic and are often accompanied by depressive and anxiety symptoms. Sleep quality, however, has been mainly assessed by the use of self-reported measures, thus limiting clinical usefulness.

Summary: Poor sleep quality among the medical staff is prevalent, and our experience supports that this has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal investigation assessing whether and for how long sleep remains altered in medical staff could be of interest to evaluate the temporal effect of the pandemic on health.

Keywords: Actigraphy; COVID-19 pandemic; Healthcare workers/medical staff; Sleep quality.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

References and Recommended Reading

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance
    1. Zeng LN, Yang Y, Wang C, Li XH, Xiang YF, Hall B. Prevalence of poor sleep quality in nursing staff: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Behav Sleep Med. 2019;31:1–14. doi: 10.1080/15402002.2019.1677233. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Khatony A, Zakiei A, Khazaie H, Rezaei M, Janatolmakan M. International nursing: a study of sleep quality among nurses and its correlation with cognitive factors. Nurs Adm Q. 2020;44(1):E1–E10. doi: 10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000397. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Belingheri M, Pellegrini A, Facchetti R, De Vito G, Cesana G, Riva MA. Self-reported prevalence of sleep disorders among medical and nursing students. Occup Med (Lond) 2020;70(2):127–130. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqaa011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ran L, Chen X, Wang Y, Wu W, Zhang L, Tan X. Risk factors of healthcare workers with coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study in a designated Hospital of Wuhan in China. Clin Infect Dis. 2020. 10.1093/cid/ciaa287. This study showed the importance of an early identification of potential risk factors for the health of medical staff. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang C, Yang L, Liu S, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, et al. Survey of insomnia and related social psychological factors among medical staff involved in the 2019 novel coronavirus disease outbreak. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:306. 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00306 eCollection 2020. This is the first study investigating the prevalence of sleep disorders among frontline medical workers, in hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak. - PMC - PubMed