Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sleep quality in medical students

Abstract

Background: Medical students are already under extreme academic pressure which causes disruption in their sleep patterns. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though they have been relieved of their hectic schedules this has also led to complete lack of hands-on training and bedside clinical teaching which might have given rise to increased anxiety in this population. Aims: To assess the sleeping pattern and determinants of poor sleep quality among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 343 undergraduate medical students of a tertiary care teaching hospital from August 17, 2020, to September 17, 2020, via an online questionnaire containing questions on sociodemographic parameters, lifestyle factors, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, COVID-19-related stress and academic delay-related stress. Statistical Analysis: Analysis was done with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0. Results: About 52.47% had a poor sleep quality; 92.4% had a high level of academic uncertainty-related stress and 64.7% experienced a high level of COVID-19-related stress. Significant association was found between Poor Sleep Quality (PSQI score) and urban residence, nuclear family, smoking, excessive caffeine consumption, and high levels of COVID-19 stress. Conclusion: Although poor sleepers had decreased in number from before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were still much higher than the general population. This might be due to high levels of academic delay-related stress present virtually in the entire population. This can be circumvented by proper counseling of the students and sensitive planning of the academic activities once the pandemic will over.