Dados do Trabalho

Título

Sleep assessment in medical students at a university in southern Brazil.

Introdução

Sleep is a physiological condition which relates to various functions of the body. Therefore, its disturbances can worsen the lives of individuals. Among sleep disorders, excessive daytime sleepiness is relevant due to its association with changes in physical and psychosocial health.
Studies revealed that college students have more sleep disorders than the general population. As other college students, medical students may have changes in sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness due to the full-time workload, extracurricular activities, pressure, stress and the pursuit of high academic performance. This study aims to demonstrate the importance of education and the maintenance of healthy sleep habits. In addition to this, it may show the need for curriculum changes that enable adequate sleep for the full cognitive and behavioral development of medical students.

Objetivo

Analyze and describe the quality of sleep and the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness in medical students at a university in south Brazil.

Métodos

Observational cross-sectional design.
Sample: 328 students from the 1st to the 8th semesters of the School of Medicine in southern Brazil from September to December 2018.
Instruments: self-administered questionnaires containing sociodemographic questions, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (for assessment of excessive daytime sleepiness) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
Statistics: The EPi info 7.0 and STATA 12 statistical packages were used. Univariate analysis was performed to obtain frequencies of all variables for sample characterization, bivariate analysis using Pearson chi-square test. A significance level of 5% was adopted.

Resultados

The prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was 62,8% being 18% severe EDS. Pitsburg Sleep Quality Scale, showed a prevalence of 80.8% of bad sleepers. ). In the evaluation of sub-items of this scale 52% of students think their sleep is bad or very bad, 70% of them have less than expected total sleep time, 91.5% show some degree of sleep deprivation and about 25% have a poor sleep efficiency. About sleeping medications, 22.57% used it in the last month and 11.5% use it at least once / week.

Conclusões

Our academics are experiencing lower than expected quality of sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep deprivation. . These data point to a real and urgent need to reassess curriculum changes and implement actions aiming to improve sleep hygiene and quality of life for our student population.

Palavras-chave

sleep, excessive daytime sleep, sleep quality