Dados do Trabalho

Título

Sleep quality in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Introdução

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to affect the sleep quality of healthcare workers, according to recent studies.

Objetivo

To evaluate health personnel sleep quality, at a tertiary hospital reference in COVID-19 patient’s care in southern Brazil, when its resources were under clear overload, and 25% of these workers had already contracted the virus.

Métodos

This cross-sectional study took place between November 2020 and January 2021. All 7500 healthcare workers received an online questionnaire with sociodemographic, and occupational information, as well as questions on the subjective perception of sleep quality according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.0. Descriptive data are presented as absolute and relative frequencies (n, n%) and mean and standard deviation. For factors associated with sleep quality, we used the chi-square test and multivariate robust Poisson regression. Study was approved by Research Ethics Committee by the number 200502.

Resultados

Of the 1441 participants answering the questionnaire, 995 were included in the sample. The mean age was 44.1±10.6 years, 764 (76.8%) were women, and 739 (74.3%) were married/in a stable relationship. Personnel distribution according to occupation area: 483 (48.5%) administrative, 230 (23.1%) surgical unit/obstetrics, 176 (17.7%) emergency/intensive care unit, and 106 (10.7%) outpatient clinics. Most reported working 20 to 40 hours a week (53.6%), and 486 (48.8%) reported having contact with COVID-19 patients. According to PSQI individual components, healthcare workers in contact with COVID-19 patients showed higher sleep latency (p=0.038), less habitual sleep efficiency (p=0.024), more sleep medication use (p=0.011), and more daytime dysfunction (p=0.036). According to overall PSQI score, those in contact with COVID-19 had worse sleep quality (p=0.013), as well as from the total sample, 689 (70.7%) had poor sleep quality. In the multivariate analysis, younger age and female gender were aggravating factors for poor sleep quality (p=0.039; p<0.001).

Conclusões

Most participants reported poor sleep quality, including those who had direct contact with COVID-19 patients during the work. Age was an important factor, in other words, the younger the healthcare worker, worse is the sleep quality, as well as be female sex.

Palavras-chave

2019 nCoV Disease; Sleep quality; Health Personnel