A new global systematic review and meta-analysis finds that over 40% of health care workers experienced insomnia during and after the acute phase of the COVID pandemic—a rate significantly higher than those reported in the general population. 

For the study, published in Current Psychology, researchers from the Universidad Catolica de Murcia in Spain analyzed 34 studies involving 32,930 health care professionals in 14 countries. The pooled prevalence of insomnia was 43.5%, with substantial variability between studies. 

The findings suggest that sleep disturbances among health care workers have persisted beyond the initial pandemic surge. Meta-analyses conducted in 2020 reported insomnia rates ranging from 34% to 49%, and the updated analysis indicates that rates have remained within that range even after the pandemic peak. 

Work setting, geographic area tied to insomnia risk

Frontline status emerged as an important risk factor. Health care workers directly involved in patient care had a significantly higher prevalence of insomnia (54.9%) than second-line staff (33.5%). The authors note that frontline workers faced harsher working conditions and direct contact with infected patients, which may have contributed to sleep disruption. 

Prioritizing the management of sleep disturbances remains essential, not only to improve immediate quality of life but also to mitigate future psychological risks.

But the insomnia rate among workers not on the front lines “was also considerably high,” they write. “Our findings suggest that the type of healthcare professional included in the studies did not significantly moderate the prevalence of insomnia symptoms.”

Geographic location was also a significant predictor of prevalence. Studies conducted in Europe reported higher pooled prevalence than those conducted in Asia, and studies from China reported significantly lower rates than those from other countries. 

The authors conclude that a subset of health care workers continue to experience the effects of the pandemic and, given the known links between insomnia and mental illness, “prioritizing the management of sleep disturbances remains essential, not only to improve immediate quality of life but also to mitigate future psychological risks.”

• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ended its investigation into the recent multistate infant botulism outbreak traced to ByHeart powdered formula and lowered the total case number by three. In a Public Health Alert issued earlier this week, California, CDC, and Food and Drug Administration scientists reported 51 infections, but yesterday the CDC said it has excluded three suspected cases, for a total of 48 (28 confirmed, 20 probable) in November and December 2025. While the outbreak is over, investigators continue to probe how Clostridium botulinum bacteria got into the formula, the CDC said.
• A report published yesterday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describes how officials used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify contaminated ice in a beer cooler as the source of a 2024 Salmonella enterica outbreak at a county fair. Ice is an uncommon vehicle for Salmonella spread at public events, noted author Katherine Houser, RN, of the Brown County Health Department in Mount Sterling, Illinois. The outbreak sickened 13 people (seven confirmed, six probable cases). AI tools helped synthesize background information to support and contextualize the environmental health team’s assessment, Houser said. 
• Yesterday the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced a $1.2 billion public health partnership. Under the agreement, the United States will provide up to $900 million over the next five years “to support the DRC’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child deaths, and other infectious diseases, while bolstering disease surveillance and outbreak response,” the countries said in a statement. The DRC will increase its own domestic health expenditures by $300 million over that time. 
• This week the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) reported three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Afghanistan, one vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case in Chad, three cVDPV2 cases in the DRC, seven cVDPV2 cases and one vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3 (cVDPV3) case in Nigeria, and one cVDPV2 case in Togo. The Afghanistan cases bring its 2025 WPV1 total to 16.