Background: sleep disturbances are common among adult populations and can have a significant effect on daytime activities. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of sleep problems and subjective sleep quality in the adult population of Tehran, Iran.Methods: From an urban community of Tehran, a random sample of 3400 adult men and women were selected by a cross-sectional design. Using the Persian version of the Pittsburgh sleep quality Index (PSQI), subjects were interviewed face-to-face. There were 3114 completed questionnaires returned and analyzed.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 43.57 (±SD 17.5) years. Overall 37% (95% CI: 35–39) of the population were categorized as poor sleepers. The PSQI>5 showed 27% were males versus 35% among females. The global PSQI scores ranged from 4.20±2.67 to 5.60±3.74 for males and 5.03±3.00 to 7.97±4.31 for females by age groups. The difference across age groups for global PSQI score was significant in females (P<0.01).Conclusion: The prevalence rate of sleep complaints in this population-based study was high. Females, older adults, widows and separated couple were the most important risk factors for sleep disturbances.

Background: sleep problems are common complaints in health care workers that can affect quality of life and productivity, both in patients and healthy individuals. This study evaluates the prevalence of low sleep quality in health care workers with no health issues or complaints of sleep problems.Methods: In this cross-sectional study was conducted on healthy employees of a health care organization in Tehran. The presence of physical and mental health issues and satisfaction from their sleep quality was assessed by means of a self-administered questionnaire. sleep quality was evaluated by the Persian version of the Pittsburgh sleep quality Index (PSQI). PSQI scores of 5 or less were considered as good sleep quality.Results: From 925 participants, 56.9% were good sleepers. There was a significant association between poor sleep quality and female sex, divorced, shift-working, and age; it was not associated with education level. Self-rated health (SRH) had a significant positive correlation with sleep quality.Conclusion: Poor sleep quality is common in our study population and associated with a lower SRH. The high prevalence of poor sleep quality in a group of healthy non-complaining employees can be an important early sign of underlying physical or mental health issues. Providing screening and monitoring programs to detect the underlying health conditions and their consequent treatment can promote health and productivity of employees and improve society’s health, both directly and indirectly.

Dear Editor, Since December 2019 and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, it has rapidly spread and attracted the World Health Organization’ s attention and concern. COVID-19 is a new case of coronavirus that is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with a high transmission rate. 1 The disease is usually accompanied by simple respiratory symptoms such as fever and dry cough, fatigue, and gastrointestinal symptoms. COVID-19 has specific characteristics that has led to increased anxiety in the society. Person-to-person transmission, high prevalence rates, treatment failure, rumors and misinformation about the origins and causes of the disease, emotional and exaggerated images and news, and the possibility of recurrence of the disease are among the factors causing significant anxiety compared with past pandemics. . .