Does COVID-19 Infection Continue to Affect Self-Reported and Objective Sleep? A Longitudinal Study of Good Sleepers

Area of Science:

• Sleep Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Neuroscience

Background:

• The long-term effects of COVID-19 on sleep are not fully understood.
• This study investigates sleep changes in individuals with prior COVID-19 infection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the impact of COVID-19 on both self-reported and objective sleep parameters.
• To assess sleep quality, onset latency, and efficiency in good sleepers post-infection.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 15 good sleepers with prior COVID-19 infection.
• Sleep assessments (PSQI, polysomnography, EEG) conducted at three time points: pre-infection, 1 month post-infection, and 6 months post-infection.
• Analysis of self-reported sleep onset latency (s-SOL) and sleep efficiency (s-SE), and objective sleep parameters including EEG relative power.

Main Results:

• Self-reported sleep quality (PSQI scores) and s-SOL increased, while s-SE decreased significantly in the short-term post-infection period compared to pre-infection.
• No significant differences were found between short-term, long-term, and pre-infection periods for self-reported sleep measures.
• Objective sleep measures showed no significant changes, except for a shorter objective sleep onset latency (o-SOL) in the long-term post-infection period. Relative alpha EEG power during REM sleep also showed a significant change.

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 infection appears to have a transient negative effect on the self-perceived sleep of good sleepers.
• Objective sleep parameters and EEG activity in good sleepers are not significantly affected long-term by COVID-19 infection.