ANXIOUSNESS AND QUALITY OF SLEEP IN CHILDREN WHO WERE IN QUARANTINE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. / TRYVOZhNIST' TA IaKIST' SNU U DITEI, IaKI PEREBUVALY NA KARANTYNI PID ChAS PANDEMIÏ COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: to assess the level of anxiety and characterize the quality of sleep in children living in radioactively con-taminated areas in comparison with children who were not affected by the Chornobyl-affected contingents that werequarantined in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The indicators of the level of anxiety were studied using the scale of self-assessment of thelevel of anxiety Ch.D. Spielberger, sleep quality was assessed using a standardized questionnaire for self-completionof PSQI and 137Cs content was measured in children. The main group consisted of 96 children who were quarantineddue to the COVID-19 pandemic and permanently lived in radioactively contaminated areas of Zhytomyr and Rivneregions with a soil contamination density of 137Cs from 18 kBq/m2 to 235 kBq/m2. The age of children ranged from10 to 17 years. Among them were 33 boys and 63 girls. The comparison group consisted of 52 children of similar age,including 26 boys and 26 girls. These children lived permanently in Kyiv and were not victims of the Chornobyl dis-aster. RESULTS: It was found that children who were quarantined for COVID-19 (both residents of radioactively contami-nated areas and children who do not belong to the contingents affected by the Chornobyl disaster) had an increasedlevel of reactive (RA) and personal anxiety (PA). The comparative analysis showed that children of the same sex ofthe main group and the comparison group did not differ in terms of PA and RA. At the same time, studies have shownthat girls, both in the main group and in the comparison group, were characterized by higher levels of PA and RAthan boys. It was determined that poor sleep quality was common in both children living in radioactively contami-nated areas (42.71 %) and children in the comparison group (42.44 %). Among the sleep disorders in children ofboth observation groups, «day dysfunction¼ was most often detected. CONCLUSIONS: There was a direct correlation between the overall PSQI score and the level of reactive, personal anx-iety and the overall PSQI score. Using regression analysis, the presence of a linear association of the level of incorporated 137Cs (Bq) with the indicator of personal anxiety of children living in radioactively contaminated territory (b = -0.716, p < 0.001) was proved.