The Assessment of Medical Students’ Chronotypes

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the circadian typology of medical students at public universities from one of the northeastern states in Brazil, active in the morning and afternoon shifts, checking the compatibility between their study time, productivity, income and chronotype. Methods: To obtain the results, the assessment of the chronotype in 342 medical students of both sexes was considered. Each participant was submitted to the questionnaire developed by Horne and Ostberg, adapted by Cardinali, Colomberk and Rey. It’s composed of 9 questions, providing the general ranking of each individual. Based upon scored, the chronotypes were classified. Results: The sample was composed of 49.12% (168) male and 50.87% (174) female subjects, a similar gender distribution of enrolled students during data collection time. By applying the questionnaire, the prevalent rating among the medical students as moderately morning (29.82%) and intermediate (43.85%) has been relevant. The academic performance assessment in two morning-intermediate groups (8.16) had no significant distance from others considered afternoon active (8.20). Conclusion: The health sciences student, especially Medicine, faces constant adaptation of scheduling, in the attempt of fulfilling the requirements throughout the course, causing chronogram desynchronization effects and forced readaptation to each different school semester.