Follow-up Study on the Sleep Status of Anti-Epidemic Staff: A Study Based on Wearable Sleep Trackers.

Authors

Yiqing Zhou, Xiaohui Wang, Cunyou Gao, Rongqin Wu, Chao Li, Kaiming Zhuo

Published in

Nature and science of sleep. Volume 18. Pages 596230. Epub Jun 25, 2026.

Abstract

This study aimed to compare sleep architecture, as estimated by a wearable pulse oximeter, between healthcare staff who worked in designated hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan and a control group, and across a one-year follow-up, and identify factors associated with insomnia risk in this population.
Thirty healthcare professionals who worked in Wuhan during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 and 28 healthy control healthcare professionals who did not participate in epidemic control were recruited. All participants underwent one night of overnight sleep monitoring with a ring-shaped medical pulse oximeter. Psychological health conditions were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Self-reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). A one-year follow-up, including repeat one-night sleep monitoring, was conducted for 28 of the anti-epidemic staff.
Twenty-eight anti-epidemic staff and 28 controls completed the study. The difference in total sleep time (TST) among the healthcare staff at the post-deployment assessment, the 1-year follow-up, and the control group was statistically significant (F=9.942, p<0.001). TST of the anti-epidemic group at the post-deployment assessment was significantly longer than that at the 1-year follow-up and that of the control group. A non-significant trend toward a relative decrease in the proportion of deep sleep was observed in the anti-epidemic group after 1 year (F=2.456, p=0.092). In an exploratory analysis, this trend appeared to be driven by a numerical decrease in deep sleep and a numerical increase in light sleep at the follow-up. In a logistic regression model, higher SRQ-20 score and older age were independently associated with increased risk of insomnia, while higher BMI and higher PHQ-9 score showed inverse associations.
In this exploratory study, stress exposure may have a sustained impact on the sleep of healthcare staff. SRQ-20 score, age, BMI, and PHQ-9 score were independently associated with insomnia in this cohort. The application of wearable pulse oximeters may serve as a convenient tool for large-scale sleep health screening, but sleep architecture findings derived from these devices require confirmation by polysomnography and should be interpreted with caution.

PMID:
42382220
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

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