Introduction: The outbreak of the novel corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19) changed life styles world wide and subsequently induced in-dividuals’ sleep problems. Sleep problems have been demonstrated byscattered evidence among the current literature on COVID-19; however,little is known regarding the synthesised prevalence of sleep problems (i.e.insomnia symptoms and poor sleep quality) formales and females sepa-rately.

Materials and Methods: The present systematic review and meta- anal-ysis aimed to answer the impor-tantquestion regarding prevalence of sleepproblems during the COVID-19 outbreak period between genders.Usingthe Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review sand Meta-Analyses guideline and NewcastleeOttawa Scalecheck list, relevantstud-ies with satisfactory methodological quality searched for in five academicdatabases (Scopus, PubMed Central, ProQuest,Webof Science, andEMBASE) were included and analysed

Results: The protocol of the project was registered in the InternationalProspective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; identificationcodeCRD42020181644). Atotalof54papers(N¼67,722) in the femal e subgroupand 45papers (N¼45,718) in the male subgroup were pooled in the meta-analysis. The corrected pooled estimated prevalence of sleep problems was24%(95% confidence interval [CI] 19%e29%)forfe-maleparticipants and27%(95%CI24%e30%) formale participants

Conclusions: Although in bothgendersubgroups, patients with COVID-19,health professionals and general popu-lations how edthehighest preva-lence of sleep problems, itdidnotreachstatistical significance. Basedonmultivariablemeta-regression, bothgendergroupshadhigherprevalence ofsleep problems duringthelockdownperiod.Therefore,healthcarepro-vidersshould pay attention to the sleep problems and take appropriate preven-tive action.