Sleep Quality in the Survivors of Covid-19

Background: It has been reported that after being discharged from the hospital, some of people who have recovered from Covid-19 may suffer from some complications and problems. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the quality of sleep in the survivors of Covid-19 discharged from the hospital. Methods: This is a descriptive-cross-sectional study which was conducted in Imam Khomeini Sarab Hospital in East Azerbaijan Province – Iran in 2022. The sample of the study was 222 survivors of Covid-19, who had been discharged from the hospital for at least a month.  The subjects were recruited by continuous sampling method. The data were collected by a demographic and disease related questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and were analyzed by independent t-test, analysis of variance and Scheffe post-hoc test in SPSS software version 20.  The significance level was set at P≥0.05.  Results: Among the subjects, 94 (42.3%) were male and 128 (57.7%) were female. The average age of the respondents was 50.32±16.75 years. A total of 84.2% of the study subjects obtained a total sleep quality score of more than 5, which means poor sleep quality. Also the average sleep quality score of the research subjects was 9.19±3.68, indicating a poor sleep quality. There were significant relationships between sleep quality and most of demographic and disease characteristics (P <0.001). Conclusion: Considering the decrease in the quality of sleep of the survivors of Covid-19 after discharge from the hospital, it is suggested to give sufficient training to these patients before discharge about the criteria that help them sleep comfortably, and if necessary, plan to refer them to a doctor.