The prevalence of sleep paralysis in medical students in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of sleep paralysis (SP) in medical students from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). An ad hoc questionnaire based on the diagnosis of SP and a demographic survey was electronically presented to students of Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine of the UBA. The respondents answered both questionnaires using Google Forms®. The prevalence of SP was 40.7% (95% CI 33.5-47.8). A higher percentage of the respondents (76%) reported experiencing SP-related anxiety. An association between self-perceived quality of sleep and the incidence of SP was found (χ2: 12.712, P = 0.002). The highest frequency was hypnopompic SP (55.55%), and the highest percentage (55.4%) suffered from SP less than once every 6 months. Most respondents (59.5%) reported having started with SP symptoms after 18 years of age, and the highest percentage (66.2%) had exacerbated their symptoms at college. The frequency of the Incubus phenomenon was 14.5% (95% CI 6.2-23). Most respondents (70.8%) denied the association of SP with religious or paranormal beliefs. SP is highly prevalent in medical students and is associated with poor sleep habits and perceived poor sleep quality. Clinicians should be aware of this parasomnia to avoid a misdiagnosis of psychosis and inform sufferers of the nature of SP.