SleepJan 16, 2022

Links between sleep patterns and risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 2, 2026

Abstract

Excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with a 4.53 times increased risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19.

Both often excessive daytime sleepiness and sometimes daytime napping are linked with a higher likelihood of being hospitalized for COVID-19.
The risk ratio for being hospitalized due to COVID-19 was 1.24 for individuals who often experience excessive daytime sleepiness compared to those who never do.
Individuals who sometimes nap during the day also showed an increased risk of hospitalization, with a risk ratio of 1.12.
Sometimes daytime napping was associated with a slight increase in susceptibility to COVID-19, with a risk ratio of 1.04.
Genetic analysis indicated a potential causal relationship between excessive daytime sleepiness and hospitalization for COVID-19, while evidence did not support a causal link for daytime napping.

Simplified

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep and circadian phenotypes are associated with several diseases. The present study aimed to investigate whether sleep and circadian phenotypes were causally linked with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related outcomes.

METHODS: Habitual sleep duration, insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, daytime napping, and chronotype were selected as exposures. Key outcomes included positivity and hospitalization for COVID-19. In the observation cohort study, multivariable risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted to estimate the causal effects of the significant findings in the observation analyses. Odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% CIs were calculated and compared using the inverse variance weighting, weighted median, and MR-Egger methods.

RESULTS: In the UK Biobank cohort study, both often excessive daytime sleepiness and sometimes daytime napping were associated with hospitalized COVID-19 (excessive daytime sleepiness [often vs. never]: RR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.02-1.5; daytime napping [sometimes vs. never]: RR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.02-1.22). In addition, sometimes daytime napping was also associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 susceptibility (sometimes vs. never: RR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.01-1.28). In the MR analyses, excessive daytime sleepiness was found to increase the risk of hospitalized COVID-19 (MR IVW method: OR = 4.53, 95% CI = 1.04-19.82), whereas little evidence supported a causal link between daytime napping and COVID-19 outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: Observational and genetic evidence supports a potential causal link between excessive daytime sleepiness and an increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization, suggesting that interventions targeting excessive daytime sleepiness symptoms might decrease severe COVID-19 rate.

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Links between sleep patterns and risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization

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