Sleep quality of first-line medical workers fighting against COVID-19 in Wuhan

Background Sleep is closely related to immune function and human health, and adequate sleep is an important foundation for human health.

Objective This study investigates the sleep status of the first-line medical staff in Wuhan in a fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, provides reference for improving the sleep quality of the first-line medical staff in public health emergencies.

Methods Through convenience sampling, 112 medical workers (first-line group) who aided the COVID-19 fight in Wuhan and 134 medical staff (non-first-line group) who did not participate in the fight were selected. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was employed to collect data on the incidence of sleep disorders, time to fall asleep, duration of sleep, sleep efficiency, sleep disorders, use of sleep aid, and daytime functions. In addition, a self-made questionnaire was used to investigate the common concerns and time allocation characteristics of the first-line medical workers in the context of major infectious disease outbreaks.

Results There were no significant differences between the two groups in demographic variables such as gender, age, job title, educational background, marriage status, number of children, and working years (P>0.05). In the first-line group, 62 medical workers (55.36%) reported sleep disorders, while in the non-first-line group, 54 medical workers (40.30%) did; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.008). Among the seven components of the PSQI, the median sleep time (component 3) score of the first-line group was 1.5, which was higher than that of the non-first-line group (median 1.0) (P < 0.001); the median sleep efficiency (component 4) score of the first-line group was 1.0, which was higher than that of the non-first-line group (median 0) (P < 0.001). The actual sleep duration of the first-line group(5.65±1.15) h was lower than that of the non-first-line group(7.00±1.40) h (P < 0.001). The distributions of common concerns were different between the two group. The top three concerns were being infected (76.79%), exhausted (37.50%), and overloaded (27.68%) in the first-line group, and family members being infected (53.73%), being infected (45.52%), and child care (33.58%) in the non-first-line group.

Conclusion The first-line medical team members report poor sleep quality, short sleep time, low sleep efficiency, sleep disorders, and many psychological concerns. It is necessary to take appropriate measures to improve their sleep quality.