Dados do Trabalho

Título

Sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and risk for generalized anxiety disorder in a public university in the Western Amazon during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introdução

Sleep deprivation is a chronic issue in the modern societies. The COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted on sleep quality and psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety.

Objetivo

We aimed to investigate the associations between sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and risk for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in an academic community in the context of remote, online education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Métodos

This was a cross-sectional, exploratory study. Online questionnaires were applied to adult students, teachers, and administrative personnel of the public university of the Rondônia state from September,2021 to December, 2021. This period was characterized by an exclusive online education. Sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); poor sleep quality was considered when the score was >5. Daytime sleepiness was measured by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS); excessive sleepiness was considered in the presence of a score ≥10. The risk for GAD was determined by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2); a score ≥3 indicated high risk for GAD. Associations between GAD risk, sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness were assessed by the chi square test.

Resultados

We analyzed 200 individuals (30 ±11.4, 68.3% female, 87.9% students, 8.6% teachers, 3.5% administrative personnel). A high risk for GAD was detected in 96 (48.0%) participants. Poor sleep quality was more frequently reported by participants with higher GAD-2 score (88.3% vs 55.8% in those with lower score, OR 5.93, 95% CI 2.74-13.81, p <0.001). Excessive daytime sleepiness was also more common in individuals with higher than lower chance of GAD (52.1% vs 34.6%, respectively, OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.12-3.78, p=0.019).

Conclusões

Poor sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, and high risk for GAD were common among an academic community during the COVID-19. Sleep disturbance and daytime sleepiness were strongly associated with generalized anxiety.

Palavras -chave

Sleep; Sleep quality; COVID-19; Anxiety