Stress and sleep: a survey based on wearable sleep trackers among medical and nursing staff in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUD: COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the sleep health of local medical and nursing staff. AIM: We used wearable pulse oximeters to monitor and screen the medical and nursing staff working in hospitals designated for COVID-19 in the Wuhan area. This study aimed to establish a reliable basis to provide sleep intervention for the medical and nursing staff. METHODS: Thirty medical and nursing staff members with symptoms of insomnia were instructed to wear medical ring-shaped pulse oximeters to monitor their sleep overnight. We also used the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Chinese version of the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) to evaluate the severity of insomnia and mental health status, respectively, for each participant. RESULTS: Among the 30 participants, only 26 completed the screening. Ten cases (38.5%) demonstrated moderate to severe sleep apnoea–hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) when using an oxygen desaturation index ≥15 times/hour as the cut-off value. Participants with comorbid moderate to severe SAHS had significantly higher ISI and SRQ scores (p values 0.034 and 0.016, respectively) than those in the insomnia group. Correlation analysis revealed that ISI was positively correlated with total sleep time (TST) (r=0.435, p=0.026), and negatively correlated with deep sleep (r=−0.495, p=0.010); furthermore, patient SRQ scores were positively correlated with TST, sleep efficiency (SE) and REM (rapid eyes movement) sleep % (r=0.454 and 0.389, 0.512; p=0.020, 0.050 and 0.008, respectively). Stepwise logistic regression indicated that SRQ-20 and sex were risk factors for insomnia with comorbid SAHS, and their OR values were 1.516 and 11.56 (95% CI 1.053 to 2.180 and 1.037 to 128.9), respectively. CONCLUSION: Medical and nursing staff with insomnia showed clear signs of comorbid sleep apnoea attributable to stress. The wearable pulse oximeters accurately monitored the participants’ breathing when asleep.