Sleep quality, depressive symptoms and generalized anxiety disorders during confinement by COVID-19

Abstract

The confinement due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 in Argentina produced many changes. Objective: To assess sleep, anxiety disorders, and depression in adults. Subjects and Methods: Through an anonymous survey distributed in the country through the web that was completed by 2,594 people (69% women, 32% men). 30% reported working in the health field. Demographic information, quality and other sleep variables, depressive symptoms and anxiety were analyzed. Results: The general prevalence of bad sleepers, depressive symptoms, and anxiety were 53%, 21.1%, and 43.8%, respectively. Those over 65 years of age showed a significantly higher prevalence of going to bed earlier and having a lower sleep onset latency. Multivariate logistic regression showed that age <55 years and being a woman were associated with anxiety and with being a poor sleeper. Sleeping more than 10 hours, going to bed later, being a poor sleeper and anxiety, were associated with depressive symptoms. Being a healthcare worker was associated with more anxiety. Conclusions: We identified poor sleep quality and alteration mental health in times of confinement. We found that more than half of the evaluated population turned out to be poor sleepers and presented high scores of symptoms related to anxiety and depression. Additionally, health workers presented more anxiety than the rest.