Abstract
BackgroundNurses are in the frontline and play an important role in the battle against the COrona VIrus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Sleep problems among health care workers are likely to increase due to the pandemic. However, it is conceivable that negative health outcomes related to the pandemic fluctuate with the infection rate waves of the pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate sleep patterns among Norwegian nurses, after the first wave, during a period with very low rates of COVID-19.MethodsData stemmed from the cohort study “SUrvey of Shift work, Sleep and Health (SUSSH)” among Norwegian nurses. A total of 1532 nurses responded one time to a questionnaire between June and September in 2020 including items about demographics and work, information about COVID-19 and quarantine, sleep patterns and changes in sleep patterns due to the pandemic. Descriptive statistics for all relevant variables were calculated and McNemar tests were used to compare categorical variables.ResultsThe majority of nurses (84.2%) reported no change in sleep duration after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before, 11.9% reported less sleep, and 3.9% reported more sleep. Similarly, 82.4% of the nurses reported no change in their sleep quality, whereas 16.2% of the nurses reported poorer sleep quality after the first wave of the pandemic compared to before. The majority of nurses reported no change in their sleep schedule due to the pandemic, although 9.6% of the nurses reported to go to bed later and 9.0% woke up earlier than before the pandemic.ConclusionsMost existing literature exploring sleep among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic has been carried out during periods with high infection rates. In this study we aimed to investigate sleep patterns among Norwegian nurses following the first wave, during a period of low COVID-19 rates in Norway. Most of the nurses reported no change in neither sleep duration, sleep quality, bedtime, nor wake-up times compared to before the pandemic. Still, nearly 12% reported shorter sleep duration, and about 16% reported poorer sleep quality indicating that some nurses experienced worsening of their sleep following the pandemic.
Highlights
The outbreak of the coronavirus SARS CoV-2 pandemic in 2019 affected societies worldwide and had a major impact on most people’s lives
Previous studies have shown that health care workers report poor sleep quality under non-pandemic circumstances [2,3,4], and these difficulties are believed to be exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic [5]
Annual follow-up questionnaires have been sent to all nurses who responded to the first wave, except for nurses who have withdrawn from the study, died or moved to an unknown address
Summary
The outbreak of the coronavirus SARS CoV-2 pandemic in 2019 affected societies worldwide and had a major impact on most people’s lives. For some occupational groups the pandemic has implied a profound impact [1]. This concerns in particular health care workers, including nurses, who are in the frontline of the pandemic and play an essential role in the management of the coronavirus and its consequences (i.e., from administering vaccines to treating COVID-19 patients). Being in the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic place health care workers at high risk of becoming infected by the virus [6]. One meta-analysis published in 2020 focusing on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and sleep among health care workers identified 13 papers of which five included insomnia as an outcome. Nurses are in the frontline and play an important role in the battle against the COrona VIrus Disease2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate sleep patterns among Norwegian nurses, after the first wave, during a period with very low rates of COVID-19
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