Features of sleep quality assessment in patients with post-COVID syndrome and a history of acute ischemic stroke

Background. Sleep is a complex of physiological processes during which the body’s resources spent during wakefulness are restored. Acute cerebrovascular accidents can be accompanied by neurological and psychological complications, among which sleep disorders have a special place. Such complications are also observed after COVID-19. Therefore, it is relevant to assess the quality of sleep in patients with post-COVID syndrome who have had a history of acute cerebrovascular accidents. Materials and me-thods. One hundred and thirty-seven patients (101 women and 36 men) who had a history of acute ischemic stroke and signs of post-COVID syndrome and 80 people of the comparison group (40 women and 40 men) who had a history of the same diagnosis but without infection were examined. The age range of patients in both study groups was from 35 to 65 years. The average age of patients in the study group was 50.91 ± 10.60 years, and in the comparison group, 53.98 ± 9.11 years. Results. All participants had sleep disorders of varying degrees of severity. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the total score on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Moderate sleep disorder was recorded more often in the comparison group and in patients with a mild course of an infectious disease. Sleep quality was more often assessed as “extremely poor” by patients who had COVID-19 (23 versus 15 %, respectively). And sleep duration of more than seven hours was observed more often in patients who were not infected (30 versus 24 %). Conclusions. Prolonged COVID-19 reduces sleep quality in patients who had suffered ischemic stroke before infection. An increase in the frequency of complaints of pain in the lower limbs, mainly at night, when determining sleep problems in the study group, indicates the possible involvement of COVID-19 in the development of such severe complication as restless legs syndrome in patients who did not have such complication after a stroke.