Elderly's sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Social isolation, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, favored the exposure of elderly people to stressors that may have compromised the quality of sleep. Objective: To verify the quality of sleep of elderly people in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A study was carried out with 305 elderly from 61 cities, recruited through social networks, from February- June/2021. The online questionnaire included general data (city, age, gender, skin, color, education level). Questions were asked about the practice of Physical Activity (PA), the quality of sleep during the pandemic (Mini Sleep Questionnaire/MSQ altered sleep score ≥ 25;EPWORTH-sleepiness score ≥ 10 points) and whether was diagnosed with COVID-19. Results: Out of 305 individuals who participated, 71% were between 60 to 69 years, and 72% were women. In addition, 59.5% practiced some type of physical activity, 9.5% contracted the SARS-CoV2 virus, 65% reported that their sleep pattern was not altered by the pandemic, 28.8% had impaired sleep quality, 72% were not taking sleep medication. The sleepiness was within the normal range. The relation of sleep quality of elderly practitioners of PA did not show statistically significant difference in relation to those who did not practice it during the pandemic. Sleep quality and the diagnosis of COVID-19 did not present relevant statistical data either. Although the individuals did not show any change in sleep quality during the pandemic, the data signaled a poor quality of sleep in the elderly surveyed, with a score showing an overall mean (MSQ) of 31.7 indicating severe difficulty in sleeping. In this study, women had a higher sleep quality score (32.6) than men (29.5), signaling the worsening of sleep in females. Elderly people in age group 70 years more demonstrated a better sleep pattern than age group 60 to 69 years. There was a statistically significant difference in the quality of sleep of the elderly who snored (33.1) compared to those who did not snore (28.0) and those who took a nap during the day (32.7) and those who did not take a nap (30,4). Tiredness was also shown to be a sign of worsening sleep quality when related to those who were not tired during the day. Conclusion: The results suggest that there were no significant changes in the sleep pattern of the elderly during the period evaluated in the pandemic. The changes found were similar in the literature for this population.