COVID-19 increases insomnia risk in people with anxiety, depression
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Key takeaways:
- More than three-quarters of study participants who experienced mild COVID-19 reported experiencing insomnia.
- Insomnia was more common among people with anxiety or depression.
More than three-quarters of people with mild COVID-19 reported experiencing insomnia after recovery, and it was more common among those with anxiety or depression, according to the results of a survey.
Sleep disturbance is common among people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and it has been associated with symptoms of long COVID.
“As a sleep researcher, I received many questions and complaints from relatives, friends and colleagues about their sleep disturbances after recovering from COVID-19,” Huong T. X. Hoang, PhD, of Phenikaa University in Hanoi, Vietnam, said in a press release. “I found that the majority of papers focused on hospitalized patients. The environment of their treatment and quarantine would differ greatly from those with milder symptoms.”
Hoang and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 1,056 people in Vietnam who had lab-confirmed COVID-19 in the previous 6 months and were not hospitalized. They analyzed responses using the Insomnia Severity Index and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-14, examining associations between depression and anxiety with participants’ levels of insomnia.
Among study participants, 76.1% experienced insomnia, with 22.8% of these participants experiencing severe insomnia. Roughly one-third of participants reported worse sleep quality, shorter sleep durations and that it had been harder to fall asleep, and 52.9% reported an increase in the number of nights they experienced sleep disruption.
People with depression were more than three times as likely to experience insomnia (OR = 3.45; 95% CI, 1.87-6.34) and people with anxiety were nearly four times more likely to experience insomnia (OR = 3.93; 95% CI, 2.52-6.13).
Additionally, although COVID-19 symptoms and duration of illness were not associated with insomnia, preexisting chronic conditions and higher education level did increase the risk for insomnia.
The symptom cluster of insomnia, depression and anxiety after recovery from COVID-19 has been reported among several different populations, the researchers wrote in the study. They said public health agencies should consider interventions for people who have had milder cases to mitigate the potential long-term negative impacts of infection.
“If you experience insomnia after COVID-19, don’t think that’s normal,” Hoang said.
References:
- Hoang HTX, et al. Front Public Health 2024;doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1281012.
- Mild COVID-19 infections make insomnia more likely, especially in people with anxiety or depression. https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2024/02/05/mild-covid-19-infections-make-insomnia-more-likely-especially-in-people-with. Published Feb. 4, 2024. Accessed Feb. 15, 2024.
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