Effects of Region, Epidemic Stage, and Demographic Characteristics on Sleep Quality and Mental Disturbances among Health Care Workers during COVID-19 Outbreak

The objective is to investigate the prevalence of sleep quality and mental disturbances of medical staff and identify the effects of region, epidemic stage, and demographic characteristics during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Self-administered questionnaire were sent to health care workers (HCWs) in China from 30 Jan to 2 March, 2020. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Patient Health Questionare-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 and the Impact of Event Scale were used to assess sleep quality, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of HCWs, respectively. The influencing factors of psychological and sleep disturbances were identified by univariate analysis and multiple regression. Research found that HCWs had poorer sleep quality on stage 2 and 3 of the outbreak. HCWs in Hubei had poorer sleep quality but lighter depression condition. gender, age, occupation and status of having children were associated with sleep and mental health. Mental health programs should be considered for HCWs especially those with specific characteristics.