The Correlation Between Brain Performance Capacity and COVID-19: A Cross-sectional Survey and Canonical Correlation Analysis

Objective : To generate a concept of brain performance capacity (BPC) with sleep, fatigue and mental workload as evaluation indicators and to analyze the correlation between BPC and the impact of COVID-19. Methods: A cluster sampling method was adopted to randomly select 259 civil air crew members. The measurements of sleep quality, fatigue and mental workload (MWL) were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and NASA Task Load Index. The impact of COVID-19 included 7 dimensions scored on a Likert scale. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was conducted to examine the relationship between BPC and COVID-19. Results: A total of 259 air crew members participated in the survey. Participants’ average PSQI score was 7.826 (SD = 3.796), with 49.8% reporting incidents of insomnia, mostly of a minor degree. Participants’ MFI was an average 56.112 (SD = 10.040), with 100% reporting some incidence of fatigue, mainly severe. The weighted mental workload (MWL) score was an average of 43.084 (SD = 17.543), with reports of mostly a mid-level degree. There was a significant relationship between BPC and COVID-19, with a canonical correlation coefficient of 0.507 ( P =0.000), an eigenvalue of 0.364 and a contribution rate of 69.1%. All components of the BPC variable set: PSQI, MFI and MWL contributed greatly to BPC, with absolute canonical loadings of 0.790, 0.606 and 0.667, respectively; the same was true for the COVID-19 variable set, with absolute canonical loadings ranging from 0.608 to 0.951. Conclusion: Multiple indicators to measure BPC and the interrelationship of BPC and COVID-19 should be used in future research to gain a comprehensive understanding of anti-epidemic measures to ensure victory in the battle against the spread of the disease.