Sleep quality and health in healthcare professionals fighting against COVID-19: a comparative study between high risk area (Hubei Province) and low risk area (Jiangsu Province) in China

Abstract

Background: Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. Since then, there was an outbreak in Wuhan and the coronavirus spread quickly nationwide. Thousands of healthcare providers fought against COVID-19 in Wuhan and other areas of China. The present study aimed to investigate the levels and related factors of sleep quality of healthcare professionals fighting against COVID-19 in high risk area (Hubei Province) and low risk area (Jiangsu Province), and association between sleep quality and health. Methods: A total of 253 healthcare professionals in Hubei Province (n=119, female 72.3%, mean age=32.13±5.50, nurse 80.7%) and Jiangsu Province(n=134, female 94.0%, mean age=30.2±5.52, nurse 96.3%) were surveyed from February to March 2020. Sleep quality (Pittsburgh sleep quality index, PSQI) and health were assessed using an internet survey.Results: The global PSQI score of Hubei sample and Jiangsu sample was 9.74±5.00 and 7.79±4.64, respectively. The global PSQI score and the scores of subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration and use of sleep medications in Hubei sample were significantly higher than that of Jiangsu sample (p<0.05). For Hubei sample, fear of infection, fatigue in Class 3 protection and worry about family were predictors of poor sleep quality (OR=5.020, 95%CI 1.761-14.306, OR=3.859, 95%CI 1.168-12.753, OR=3.576, 95%CI 1.002-12.759, respectively), while dizziness in Class 3 protection was predictor of poor sleep quality for Jiangsu sample (OR=7.063, 95%CI 2.323-21.470). Poor sleep quality was associated with reduced self-reported health after controlling for covariates for all samples(β=-0.75, p<0.01, β=-0.52, p<0.01, respectively).Conclusions: Sleep quality of healthcare professionals in Hubei was worse than that in Jiangsu. Poor sleep quality was associated to poor health. Our findings call for systematic sleep intervention program that are specially designed to help healthcare professionals fighting against infectious disease to improve their sleep quality.