Social outbreak and its association with insomnia and daytime sleepiness in Chile

To associate the effects of the social outbreak with insomnia and daytime sleepiness according to the distance from the riots.

Cross-sectional analytical study; a non-probabilistic sampling was carried out at a national level. The Google Forms tool was used; a document was submitted using a national database. The instrument consisted of four sections: socio-demographic data, biopsychosocial symptoms, insomnia severity index (ISI), and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the zero-inflated negative binomial model.

Of a total of 2,532 surveyed people, 29% were male; 43% was younger than 30 years old. The 50% of the sample suffers from sleepiness and 71% shows some type of insomnia. The marginal effects of the zero-inflated negative binomial model show that women, people aged 51 or older, who are neither studying a healthcare degree nor working in the healthcare sector, that are exposed to 4 or more hours per day to the news and that live in areas near or very near the riots, have significantly higher ISI (marginal effect 1.356, SE 0.381, p-value 0.000) and ESS scores (marginal effect 0.693, SE 0.320, p-value 0.030). To live/work in rioting areas has the greater marginal effect compared to other determinants. Finally, neither employment status nor educational level are associated with significant effects in the aforementioned scales.

The riots occurred during the social outbreak of October 2019 in Chile had an effect on insomnia and daytime sleepiness. Particularly, to live/work in rioting areas has the greater marginal effect compared to other determinants.