Purpose: Sleep disturbance has been implicated in poor prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but less is known about the influence of short sleep duration on COVID-19 outcomes. We aim to investigate whether short sleep duration is associated with prolonged virus shedding duration in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron-infected patients.
Patients and Methods: A total of 270 patients with a laboratory confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis during SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-predominant period were recruited. Self-reported sleep duration of the patients was collected. The two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the interactions between sleep duration and variables, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of independent variables on longer virus shedding duration.
Results: The two-way ANOVA revealed a significant sleep duration × snoring interaction effect for virus shedding duration, and a sleep duration × sex interaction effect for virus shedding duration. Multivariate logistic regression model illustrated that patients sleeping < 6 h were at greater risk of prolonged virus shedding duration compared to those sleeping ≥ 6 hours (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.01– 3.26), independent of age, sex, co-existing diseases, vaccination condition, and antiviral treatment.
Conclusion: Short sleep duration (< 6 h) was associated with increased virus shedding in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-infected patients.
Keywords: sleep duration, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, COVID-19 pandemic