Management of long-COVID-19 patients with sleep disorders: practical advice to general practitioners.

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101299403 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1819-6357 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 18196357 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Libyan J Med Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2016- > : Philadelphia, PA : Taylor & Francis
Original Publication: [Libya] : Ibnosina Medical Association

General Practitioners* ; COVID-19* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders*/epidemiology ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders*/therapy; Humans ; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome ; Hypnotics and Sedatives

Given the high prevalence of sleep disorders (e.g. insomnia) among long-COVID-19 patients (LC19Ps), approaches to tackle these disorders should not only depend on sleep specialists, but they should also involve general practitioners (GPs). Indeed, according to the World Health Organization, GPs should be on the front line in the management of LC19Ps. However, in real practice, little data with regard to the management of LC19Ps are available for GPs, which represents an embarrassing situation. Thus, the main aim of this correspondence was to provide GPs with some advice related to the management of sleep disorders in LC19Ps. The pieces advice presented in this correspondence are related to: i) Early and accurate recognition of sleep disorders, ii) General recommendations to manage sleep disorders in LC19Ps (e.g. encouraging vaccination against the virus); and iii) Specific recommendations, such as improving sleep hygiene (patients' behavior and diet), psychological or behavioral therapies (stimulus control therapy, relaxation, sleep restriction), promising tools (heart coherence, neurofeedback), and pharmacological treatment. The authors of this correspondence deeply believe that given the undesirable side effects associated with the use of hypnotics, the pharmacological approach must only be a "last resort". The authors believe that an important percentage of pharmacological prescriptions could be avoided if more focus is put on educating GPs to provide LC19Ps with more tools to deal with sleep disorders. The pieces advice presented in this correspondence are indispensable to resume the normal life of LC19Ps and to promote their mental health recovery.

Comment in: Libyan J Med. 2023 Dec;18(1):2188653. (PMID: 36908059)

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Keywords: Behavioral therapy; SARS-Cov-2; cognitive therapy; insomnia; sleep quality

0 (Hypnotics and Sedatives)

Date Created: 20230226 Date Completed: 20230228 Latest Revision: 20230316

20240628

PMC9970199

10.1080/19932820.2023.2182704

36842064