Is disruption of sleep quality a consequence of severe Covid-19 infection? A case-series examination

The Covid-19 outbreak put enormous stress on the health system worldwide, and objective data to handle the emergency are still needed. We aimed to objectively assess the consequence of severe symptoms of Covid-19 infection on sleep quality through wrist actigraphy monitoring of four patients during the sub-acute recovery stage of the disease. The sleep of those patients who had experienced the most severe respiratory symptoms and who had needed prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay showed lower Sleep Efficiency and Immobility Time and higher Fragmentation Index compared to those patients who had experienced only mild respiratory symptoms and not requiring ICU stay. Wrist actigraphy assessment provided important clinical information about the sleep and activity levels of Covid-19 patients during the post-acute rehabilitation management.新冠疫情（COVID-19）全球大流行对全球医疗体系造成了沉重负担，当前仍亟需可用于应对该突发公共卫生事件的客观数据。本研究通过对4名新冠感染亚急性康复期患者实施腕部活动记录仪（wrist actigraphy）监测，旨在客观评估重症新冠感染症状对睡眠质量的影响。结果显示，与仅出现轻度呼吸道症状且无需入住重症监护病房（ICU）的患者相比，曾罹患极重度呼吸道症状并需长期入住重症监护病房的患者，其睡眠监测结果呈现出更低的睡眠效率（Sleep Efficiency）与静息时长（Immobility Time），以及更高的睡眠碎片化指数（Fragmentation Index）。腕部活动记录仪评估可为新冠感染患者急性后康复管理阶段的睡眠与活动水平提供关键临床参考信息。