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. 2022 Nov 9;22(1):417.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-022-02940-7.

Central hypersomnia and chronic insomnia: expanding the spectrum of sleep disorders in long COVID syndrome - a prospective cohort study

Alissa Elen Formiga Moura #  1   2 , Danilo Nunes Oliveira #  1   2 , Danielle Mesquista Torres  1 , José Wagner Leonel Tavares-Júnior  1   2 , Paulo Ribeiro Nóbrega  1   2 , Pedro Braga-Neto  3   4   5 , Manoel Alves Sobreira-Neto  1   2
Affiliations

Central hypersomnia and chronic insomnia: expanding the spectrum of sleep disorders in long COVID syndrome - a prospective cohort study

Alissa Elen Formiga Moura et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Long-onset COVID syndrome has been described in patients with COVID-19 infection with persistence of symptoms or development of sequelae beyond 4 weeks after the onset of acute symptoms, a medium- and long-term consequence of COVID-19. This syndrome can affect up to 32% of affected individuals, with symptoms of fatigue, dyspnea, chest pain, cognitive disorders, insomnia, and psychiatric disorders. The present study aimed to characterize and evaluate the prevalence of sleep symptoms in patients with long COVID syndrome.

Methodology: A total of 207 patients with post-COVID symptoms were evaluated through clinical evaluation with a neurologist and specific exams in the subgroup complaining of excessive sleepiness.

Results: Among 189 patients included in the long COVID sample, 48 (25.3%) had sleep-related symptoms. Insomnia was reported by 42 patients (22.2%), and excessive sleepiness (ES) was reported by 6 patients (3.17%). Four patients with ES were evaluated with polysomnography and test, multiple sleep latencies test, and actigraphic data. Two patients had a diagnosis of central hypersomnia, and one had narcolepsy. A history of steroid use was related to sleep complaints (insomnia and excessive sleepiness), whereas depression was related to excessive sleepiness. We observed a high prevalence of cognitive complaints in these patients.

Conclusion: Complaints related to sleep, such as insomnia and excessive sleepiness, seem to be part of the clinical post-acute syndrome (long COVID syndrome), composing part of its clinical spectrum, relating to some clinical data.

Keywords: Hypersomnia; Long-COVID; Narcolepsy; Sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

I declare that the all authors have no competing interests as defined by BMC, or other interests that might be perceived to influence the results and/or discussion reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of evaluated patients * Eight patients were excluded for lack of RT–PCR confirmation of COVID infection, 8 patients for not having persistent symptoms and 2 for preexisting sleep complaints. **2 patients refused to undergo actigraphy, PSG and MSLT. PSG – polysomnographic; MSLT - multiple sleep latency test
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Olfactory bulb atrophy in MRI
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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