Healthy sleep before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a significantly lower risk of post–COVID-19 condition (PCC; commonly long COVID), a study shows. “Future research should investigate whether interventions on sleep health may prevent PCC or improve PCC symptoms,” the authors conclude.
Participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between Apr. 2020 and Nov. 2021 were included in the analysis. Sleep health as measured from June 1, 2015, to May 31, 2017, and from Apr. 1 to Aug. 31, 2020, showed these associations with SARS-CoV-2 infection and PCC with symptoms for 4 weeks or more: “Of the 1,979 participants reporting SARS-CoV-2 infection (mean [SD] age, 64.7 [4.6] years; 1,979 [100%] female; and 1,924 [97.2%] White vs 55 [2.8%] other races and ethnicities), 845 (42.7%) were frontline health care workers, and 870 (44.0%) developed PCC. Compared with women who had a prepandemic sleep score of 0 or 1 (least healthy), those who scored 5 (most healthy) had a 30% lower risk of developing PCC (multivariable-adjusted relative risk, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.52-0.94; P for trend <.001). Associations did not differ by health care worker status. No or little daytime dysfunction prepandemic and good sleep quality during the pandemic were independently associated with a lower risk of PCC (relative risk, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.71-0.98] and 0.82 [95% CI, 0.69-0.99], respectively). Results were similar when PCC was defined as having 8 or more weeks of symptoms or as having ongoing symptoms at the time of PCC assessment.”