Lifestyle
Over one-third of medical staff suffered insomnia during pandemic: Study
BY IANS NEWS
Beijing, April 14 (IANS) The novel coronavirus that has infected more than 1.9 million people globally is not just a physical health threat as researchers have found that more than a third of medical staff responding to the outbreak during its peak in China suffered from insomnia.## According to the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, the healthcare workers who experienced sleeplessness were also more likely to feel depressed, anxious and have stress-based trauma.## "Typically, stress-related insomnia is transient and persists for only a few days. But if the COVID-19 outbreak continues, insomnia may gradually become chronic insomnia in the clinical setting," said study co-author Bin Zhang, Professor at Southern Medical University in China.## The results are based on a series of self-administered questionnaires conducted online between January 29 and February 3 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.## Researchers used the WeChat social media platform to gather answers from 1,563 participants in the medical field. Of that number, 564 people, or 36.1 percent, had insomnia symptoms.## The authors of the current study note that the statistic is consistent with previous research conducted on the psychological effects of the 2002 outbreak of SARS, a related coronavirus that also causes severe respiratory distress.## For example, 37 percent of nurses who worked with SARS patients experienced insomnia.## The insomnia group in the current paper experienced significantly higher levels of depression than the non-insomnia group, 87.1 percent versus 31 percent, especially in moderate (22.9 percent versus 2.8 percent) and severe (16.7 percent versus 1.8 percent) cases.## The percentages and differences between the groups were similar for anxiety and trauma as well. The team also identified certain factors that were correlated with insomnia.## "The most important factor was having very strong uncertainty regarding effective disease control among medical staff," Zhang noted.## Strong uncertainty was 3.3 times higher for those exhibiting insomnia than not, the study said.## Staff with less education were also prone to sleep disorders.## Specifically, researchers found the risk of insomnia among medical staff with a high school education or below was 2.69 times higher than those with a doctoral degree.## They speculated that less education led to more outcome-based fear.## The authors noted that healthcare workers were also under incredible stress in general.## They were in close contact with infected patients who could pass on the disease to them. They were worried about infecting their own family and friends.## "Under these dangerous conditions, medical staff become mentally and physically exhausted, and therefore experience an increased risk of insomnia due to high stress," they wrote.## Stay tuned...