Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Brain Behav. 2021 Sep;11(9):e02182. doi: 10.1002/brb3.2182. Epub 2021 Aug 19.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and consequent restrictions including social distancing had a great impact on everyday life. To date, little is known about how the restrictions affected sleep, which is commonly disturbed in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to elucidate sleep patterns during the pandemic in Austrian BD individuals.
An online survey assessed sleep with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and COVID-19-associated attitudes, fears, and emotional distress of 20 BD individuals and 19 controls (HC) during the pandemic. The survey was conducted in April 2020, when very strict regulations were declared, and repeated in May, when they were loosened.
Individuals with BD reported overall poor sleep according to PSQI sum at both time points. Subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime sleepiness, and PSQI sum were worse in individuals with BD than in HC. Individuals with BD informed themselves more frequently about pandemic-related topics. Higher information frequency and more COVID-19 fears (about the virus, own infection, contracting others) correlated with worse PSQI values. Regression models found in BD group that higher information frequency as well as higher COVID-19 fears in April predicted worse sleep characteristics in May, in particular subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and daytime sleepiness.
As sufficient sleep duration and quality are essential for well-being and particularly important for vulnerable BD individuals, it is important that information about the pandemic is gathered to a reasonable extent and mental health professionals include COVID-19-related fears when currently treating BD.
冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行及随之而来的包括社交距离限制在内的限制措施对日常生活产生了巨大影响。迄今为止，人们对这些限制措施如何影响睡眠知之甚少，而睡眠在双相情感障碍（BD）中通常会受到干扰。本研究旨在阐明奥地利 BD 个体在大流行期间的睡眠模式。
一项在线调查使用匹兹堡睡眠质量指数（PSQI）评估了 20 名 BD 个体和 19 名对照（HC）在大流行期间的睡眠情况，并评估了与 COVID-19 相关的态度、恐惧和情绪困扰。该调查于 2020 年 4 月进行，当时宣布了非常严格的规定，并于 5 月再次进行，当时规定有所放宽。
BD 个体报告称，根据 PSQI 总分，他们在两个时间点的整体睡眠质量都较差。BD 个体的主观睡眠质量、入睡潜伏期、白天嗜睡和 PSQI 总分均差于 HC。BD 个体更频繁地了解与大流行相关的话题。更高的信息频率和更多的 COVID-19 恐惧（对病毒、自身感染、传染他人）与更差的 PSQI 值相关。在 BD 组的回归模型中，4 月份更高的信息频率以及更高的 COVID-19 恐惧预测了 5 月份更差的睡眠特征，特别是主观睡眠质量、睡眠时间、睡眠效率和白天嗜睡。
由于充足的睡眠时间和质量对幸福感至关重要，特别是对脆弱的 BD 个体更为重要，因此，重要的是要收集有关大流行的信息，并且心理健康专业人员在治疗 BD 时应包括 COVID-19 相关恐惧。
