Sleep Quality Impairment Is Associated With Pandemic Attitudes During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Circuit Breaker Lockdown in England: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with sleep quality impairment and psychological distress, and the general public has responded to the pandemic and quarantine requirements in a variety of ways. We aimed to investigate whether sleep quality is low during a short-term (circuit break) quarantine restriction, and whether sleep quality is associated with respondents' overall attitudes to the pandemic using a validated scale. Design and Setting: Online cross-sectional study in England in November 2020. Participants: The study included 502 respondents over the age of 18. Measurements: Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and pandemic attitudes were assessed using the Oxford Pandemic Attitudes Scale-COVID-19 (OPAS-C), a validated 20-item, 7-domain scale that assesses pandemic-related stress, fear, loneliness, sense of community, sense of exaggerated concern, non-pharmaceutical interventions, and vaccine hesitancy. Unadjusted and multivariable logistic regression odds ratios of association were assessed between the dependent variable of poor sleep quality (PSQI>5) and risk factors, including OPAS-C score, age, sex, educational status, and income. Age, sex, income, political leaning, employment status, and education attainment were not associated with poor sleep quality. Conclusions: More than two-thirds of respondents met criteria for poor sleep quality. The odds of poor sleep quality increased in a dose-response relationship with pandemic attitudes (such as higher levels of pandemic-related stress, fear, or loneliness). The association between poor sleep quality and pandemic attitudes suggests opportunities for public health and sleep medicine interventions, and highlights the need for further research.