The role of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis in insomnia and post-traumatic stress symptoms in the Lebanese population: A cross-sectional assessment

Aline Hajj^1,2,3,4, Danielle A. Badro^1,5, Carla Abou Selwan^1,6, Hala Sacre¹, Randa Aoun¹, Chadia Haddad^1,7,8,9*, Pascale Salameh^1,9,10,11

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¹ Institut National de Santé Publique, d’Épidémiologie Clinique et de Toxicologie-Liban, Beirut, Lebanon

² Laboratoire de Pharmacologie, Pharmacie Clinique et Contrôle de Qualité des Médicament, Faculty of Pharmacy, Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

³ Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

⁴ Oncology Division, CHU de Québec Université Laval Research Center, Québec, Canada

⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Science and Technology. Beirut, Lebanon

⁶ Science PRO, Medical and Marketing Solutions, Jal el Dib, Lebanon

⁷ Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon

⁸ School of Health Sciences, Modern University for Business and Science, Beirut, Lebanon

⁹ School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon

¹⁰ Faculty of Pharmacy, Lebanese University, Hadath, Lebanon

¹¹ Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University of Nicosia Medical School, 2417, Nicosia, Cyprus

IJPS 2023, 9(1), 69–81; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.440

Submitted: 5 January 2023 | Accepted: 27 March 2023 | Published: 10 April 2023

© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Based on an online cross-sectional survey, this study aimed to evaluate the role of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and economy-related factors in post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) and sleep in a sample of the general Lebanese population using the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist. The online survey was conducted between May 10, and May 20, 2020, and 502 Lebanese adults who have access to the internet were enrolled. Results highlighted that positive correlates of PTSS were fear of COVID-19, female gender, and waterpipe smoking; negative correlates were higher family satisfaction, higher financial wellness, older age, having access to healthcare, and never having to work. When including insomnia as an independent variable to explain PTSS, the model did not substantially change. Positive correlates of insomnia included fear of poverty, fear of COVID-19, violence at home, the number of dependent children, having a job, and having a chronic disease. Conversely, higher family satisfaction and financial wellness were associated with lower likelihood of insomnia. When entering PTSS, insomnia remained positively associated with fear of poverty, PTSS, and violence at home. However, fear of COVID-19 was no longer associated with insomnia. We concluded that both the fear of COVID-19 and the economic crisis are correlated with PTSS and insomnia.

Keywords

Coronavirus disease 2019

Economic crisis

Post-traumatic stress symptoms insomnia

Sleep disorders

Financial well-being

Lebanon

Funding

None.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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