ArticleSleep medicine2020
Sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic: not one size fits all.
Article in Sleep medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 186 citations in OpenAlex.
- The prevalence of poor sleep quality in the general population in China: a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Changes in sleep quality and sleep disturbances in the general population from before to during the COVID-19 lockdown: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity and sleep among healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Subjective sleep alterations in healthy subjects worldwide during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.Sleep medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.Sleep medicine reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- The Effects of a Brief Lifestyle Intervention on the Health of Overweight Airline Pilots during COVID-19: A 12-Month Follow-Up Study.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Examining the Directional Effects of Insomnia, Anxiety, and Depression Symptoms: Results From a Longitudinal Study Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Leisure-Time Physical Activity, Sleep, and Self-Perception of Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Québec.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Lifestyle and health behaviour changes of ageing Finnish women during early COVID-19 restrictions.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2026Article
- Sleep quality and disturbance during the COVID-19 pandemic among people with HIV globally: associations with social determinants of health.AIDS (London, England) · 2026Observational
- The Number of Newly Dispensed Hypnotic Drugs During the First COVID-19 Lockdown Period in The Netherlands.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Racial Discrimination Predicting Sleep: Examining Social Media and Television/Digital Media use During the COVID-19 Pandemic as Moderators among College Students of Color.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Network Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Anxiety and depression as mediators in insomnia-suicidal ideation link among isolated individuals.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Risk Factors for Poor Sleep Quality and Subjective Cognitive Decline in Older Adults Living in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Not All Workers Experience Equal Sleep Changes: Insights from the "WorkInCovid" Project.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between the COVID-19 pandemic and sleep characteristics in children and parents.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of sleep of medical residents in a tertiary care hospital.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Article
- Unveiling the Hierarchical Network of Sleep Quality Determinants: Linking Behavioral, Environmental, and Psychosocial Pathways.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Article
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic imposes a long period of stress on people worldwide and has been shown to significantly affect sleep duration across different populations. However, decreases in sleep quality rather than duration are associated with adverse mental health effects. Additionally, the one third of the general population suffering from poor sleep quality was underrepresented in previous studies. The current study aimed to elucidate effects of the COVID -19 pandemic on sleep quality across different levels of pre-pandemic sleep complaints and as a function of affect and worry.
methodParticipants (n = 667) of the Netherlands Sleep Registry (NSR) were invited for weekly online assessment of the subjective severity of major stressors, insomnia, sleep times, distress, depression, and anxiety using validated scales. ANALYSIS: To investigate the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sleep quality of people with and without a history of insomnia, we performed a mixed model analysis using pre-pandemic insomnia severity, negative affect, and worry as predictors.
resultsThe effect of COVID -19 on sleep quality differs critically across participants, and depends on the pre-pandemic sleep quality. Interestingly, a quarter of people with pre-pandemic (clinical) insomnia experienced a meaningful improvement in sleep quality, whereas 20% of pre-pandemic good sleepers experienced worse sleep during the lockdown measures. Additionally, changes in sleep quality throughout the pandemic were associated with negative affect and worry.
conclusionOur data suggests that there is no uniform effect of the lockdown on sleep quality. COVID-19 lockdown measures more often worsened sleep complaints in pre-pandemic good sleepers, whereas a subset of people with pre-pandemic severe insomnia symptoms underwent a clinically meaningful alleviation of symptoms in our sample.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.