Insomnia symptoms during the early and late stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background Evidence suggests that the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the prevention/control measures for COVID-19 may cause insomnia during the acute phase of COVID-19 pandemic in China. However, it is unclear whether insomnia sustains during the later phases of the pandemic. Methods We searched PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from the 27 th December 2019 to the 2 nd February 2021. As early stage studies on COVID-19 pandemic in China were defined as those conducted prior to April 1 st , 2020, while late stage studies were those conducted after April 1 st , 2020. Results A total of 98 studies with 193,889 participants were included. The pooled prevalence of insomnia symptoms among all populations was 39.1%; the pooled prevalence of insomnia symptoms during the early and late stages of COVID-19 in China were 37.0% (95% CI 34.1-39.9%) and 41.8% (95% CI 33.6-50.0%), respectively. Importantly, there was no significant difference regarding the prevalence of insomnia symptoms between the early and late stages of COVID-19. Meta-regression showed that healthcare workers, COVID-19 patients, patients with chronic medical conditions and patients with mental disorders had a higher prevalence of insomnia symptoms compared to the general population. This association remained significant in healthcare workers and patients with chronic medical conditions after adjusting for age, gender, areas of high or low prevalence of COVID-19 cases, anxiety and depression. Conclusions Over one third of our sample presented insomnia symptoms during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in China. Interestingly, prevalence of insomnia symptoms sustained high during the late stage of the pandemic despite the control of the disease and the amelioration of its adverse effects. Our findings suggest that insomnia symptoms related to COVID-19 appear to persist of over time.

Tracking the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown policy on public mental health using social media

“…The inconsistency in the prevalence of "depression" may be caused by the regional disparity, given that the pandemic of COVID-19 in the USA was serious and healthcare workers there suffered more workload. However, many studies reported a higher prevalence of "insomnia" among healthcare workers than the general population 48,[50][51][52][53] , in accord with our result. In addition, compared with the general population, healthcare workers focused more on discussing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus and preferred to share COVID-related news or experiences.…”

Longitudinal trajectories of insomnia symptoms among college students during the COVID-19 lockdown in China

“…A recent meta-analysis reported pooled prevalence of de insomnia of the global population was 23.87% [ 10 ]. Evidence from China, compared with a pooled prevalence estimate of insomnia (315%) absent of pandemic [ 11 ], pooled prevalence from a recent meta-analysis conducted during the COVID-19 was more than two times higher (39.1%) [ 12 ], which to a certain extent reflects a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep. Meanwhile, younger people are more vulnerable to stress during COVID-19 pandemic [ 13 ].…”

Long COVID, neuropsychiatric disorders, psychotropics, present and future

“…The high incidence of insomnia reported by Schou et al (2021) and Huang et al (2021) was confirmed by Li et al (2021b). Their report documented about 37% of patients with COVID-19 had insomnia in the early stage which rose to 41.8% in the later stage.…”