Dados do Trabalho

Título

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF SLEEP QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY IN INDIVIDUALS WITH LONG COVID: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introdução

Long COVID, described by the persistence of symptoms after 3 months of the acute phase of COVID-19 infection, is related to persistent symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Furthermore, some studies show that there is a growing need to assess the population's sleep health and circadian rhythms, which may be compromised and influence other physiological and cognitive processes.

Objetivo

To objectively describe the sleep quality and efficiency parameters of individuals with long COVID.

Métodos

This is a cross-sectional study, carried out between January 2023 and August 2024. It was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. Individuals aged ≥ 18 years and diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR were included. Individuals with previous respiratory comorbidities and those who received oxygen supplementation or noninvasive mechanical ventilation after hospitalization for COVID-19 were excluded.

Resultados

A total of 41 individuals with long COVID were included in the study. Of these, 32 were women (78%) with a mean age of 59.5 ± 2.45 years, while 9 were men (22%) with a mean age of 53.89 ± 5.42 years. The objective measure of sleep measured by seven-day actigraphy showed an overall sleep efficiency of 83% for the individuals, with an average of 7.9 awakenings per night. Regarding the total time in bed, we identified a time >8 h for women, while for men it was 7.6 h (p=0.55). Regarding the total sleep time, 6.65 h for women and 6.75 h for the male group (p=0.89). The measure of sleep efficiency was statistically lower for women (83%) compared to men (83%) with a value of 0.02.

Conclusões

Individuals with long-term COVID-19 have suboptimal sleep efficiency, with an average of 7.9 awakenings per night, highlighting significant changes in sleep quality. Furthermore, although total bed and sleep time did not show significant differences between genders, sleep efficiency was significantly lower for women, indicating a more pronounced impact on sleep quality for this group.

Palavras -chave

Acute post-COVID-19 Syndrome; Actigraphy; Sleep Quality