ABSTRACT
Objectives: Sleep is a vital component for overall health and well-being, and it plays an essential role in social, physical, psychological, and cognitive health. This study aimed to appraise the sleep quality in medical and science students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This questionnaire-based cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during September-December 2020. In this study, a validated self-administered electronic questionnaire was distributed to 1000 students, 782 (78.2%) of whom completed the study. The selection of students was based on using the stratified random sampling. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) instrument scale was used to assess the sleep quality among medical and general sciences students. Results: Out of 782 respondents, 410 (52.4%) were medical students, and 372 (47.6%) were science students, including Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Statistics, Botany, and Zoology. Among the medical students, 143 (34.9%) were in pre-clinical years (1st and 2nd), while 266 (64.9%) of them were in clinical years (3rd, 4th, and 5th). Among all medical and general sciences students, it was found that 669 (85.5%) had poor sleep quality with a mean PSQI global score (mean 8.356) among them 336 (50.2%) were medical, and 333 (49.8%) were science students. Science students' sleep quality was poorer (mean 8.78) than their medical counterparts (mean= 7.93). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant negative impact on students' mental health and sleep quality. Both medical and general science students showed alarming levels of sleep deprivation and concerning low sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sleep deprivation among students may be due to the sudden change of pedagogy in education driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sleep quality is quite a critical issue to be evaluated and addressed nationally and globally.
ABSTRACT
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, also known as COVID-19, has developed into an alarming situation around the world. Healthcare workers are playing the role of frontline defense to safeguard the lives of everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate the anxiety levels and sleep quality among frontline and second-line healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cross-sectional study, a validated, self-administered, electronic questionnaire was distributed through email to healthcare workers. The selection of 1678 healthcare workers was based on a convenience sampling technique. The General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) instrument scales were used to assess healthcare workers' anxiety levels and sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of 1678 respondents, 1200 (71.5%) were frontline healthcare workers, while 478 (28.5%) were second-line healthcare workers. Among all the healthcare workers, 435 (25.92%) were experiencing moderate to severe anxiety. Among them, 713 (59.4%) frontline healthcare workers were experiencing anxiety in comparison with 277 (57.9%) second-line healthcare workers. Severe anxiety symptoms were seen in 137 (11.41%) frontline healthcare workers compared to 44 (9.20%) second-line healthcare workers. In total, 1376 (82.0%) healthcare workers were found to have poor sleep quality; 975 (58.10%) were frontline, and 407 (23.89%) were second-line healthcare workers. The highest poor sleep quality levels were found among 642 (84.6%) of the healthcare workers who work in frontline areas (emergency departments, intensive care units, and wards) compared to 734 (79.9%) of the healthcare workers who work in second-line areas. These findings provide a substantial contribution to the consolidation of evidence concerning the negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). These results have established an association that the COVID-19 pandemic causes larger negative psychological symptoms in frontline healthcare workers, such as severe anxiety and poor sleep quality. Preventive measures to minimize anxiety levels and maintain sleep quality, addressing this issue nationally and globally, are essential to support the healthcare workers who are sacrificing their mental health for the future of our nations.