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Survey of Insomnia and Related Social Psychological Factors Among Medical Staffs Involved with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Outbreak

21 Pages Posted: 25 Feb 2020

See all articles by Chenxi Zhang

Chenxi Zhang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Lulu Yang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Shuai Liu

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Simeng Ma

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Ying Wang

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Zhongxiang Cai

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Hui Du

Jing Men No. 2 People's Hospital

Ruiting Li

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Lijun Kang

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Meilei Su

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Jihui Zhang

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) - Department of Psychiatry

Zhongchun Liu

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Bin Zhang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

More...

Abstract

Background: The outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused not only extraordinary public health concerns but also tremendous psychological distress, particularly among medical staffs. We aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of insomnia and confirm the related social psychological factors among medical staffs in hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Method: Medical staffs in China were recruited, including frontline medical workers. The questionnaire obtained demographic data, self-design questions related to the COVID-19 outbreak, insomnia/depressive/anxiety symptoms, and stress related symptoms through WeChat program. We used logistic regression analysis to examine the associations between sociodemographic factors and insomnia symptoms.

Finding: There were 1,563 participants in our study. Five hundred and sixty-four (36.1%) participants had insomnia symptoms according to Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) (total score ≥ 8). Multiple binary logistic regression model revealed that insomnia symptoms were associated with the education level of high school or below (OR = 2.69, p = 0.042, 95%CI = 1.0–7.0), occupation of doctor (OR = 0.44, p = 0.007, 95%CI = 0.2–0.8), currently working in isolation unit (OR = 1.71, p = 0.038, 95%CI = 1.0–2.8), worried about being infected (OR = 2.30, p < 0.001, 95%CI = 1.6–3.4), being perceived not helpful on psychological support from news or social media about COVID-19 (OR = 2.10, p = 0.001, 95%CI = 1.3–3.3) and having very strong uncertainty regarding effective disease control (OR = 3.30, p = 0.013, 95%CI = 1.3–8.5).

Interpretation: Our study found more than one third of the medical staff suffered from insomnia symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak. The related factors were including education level, isolation environment, social psychological worries about the COVID-19 outbreak, and occupation of doctor. Interventions of insomnia on medical staffs were needed considering different social psychological factors.

Funding Statement: This study was funded by the President Foundation of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University (2019Z014), Key Item of Guangzhou bureau of education (2019KC106), National Natural Science Foundation (81901348), and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1314600).

Declaration of Interests: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement: The current study was approved by the ethics committee of Nanfang hospital in Southern Medical University. Only with the informed consent of the respondents did the questionnaire. The survey was conducted anonymously in order to protect the respondents’ privacy.

Keywords: COVID-19; insomnia; medical staff; stress; isolation; social-psychology

Suggested Citation

Zhang, Chenxi and Yang, Lulu and Liu, Shuai and Ma, Simeng and Wang, Ying and Cai, Zhongxiang and Du, Hui and Li, Ruiting and Kang, Lijun and Su, Meilei and Zhang, Jihui and Liu, Zhongchun and Zhang, Bin, Survey of Insomnia and Related Social Psychological Factors Among Medical Staffs Involved with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Outbreak (2/13/2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3542175 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3542175

Chenxi Zhang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Guangzhou
China

Lulu Yang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Guangzhou
China

Shuai Liu

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Guangzhou
China

Simeng Ma

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Wuhan
China

Ying Wang (Contact Author)

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Wuhan
China

Zhongxiang Cai

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Wuhan
China

Hui Du

Jing Men No. 2 People's Hospital

Jingmen
China

Ruiting Li

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Wuhan
China

Lijun Kang

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry

Wuhan
China

Meilei Su

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry

Guangzhou
China

Jihui Zhang

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) - Department of Psychiatry

China

Zhongchun Liu

Wuhan University - Department of Psychiatry ( email )

Wuhan
China

Bin Zhang

Southern Medical University - Department of Psychiatry ( email )

Guangzhou
China

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