.Evaluation of sleep quality and depressive symptoms among medical students during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background

Depression and sleep disorders are interrelated and have a high prevalence. Based on previous findings, medical students experience high rates of depression and low sleep quality due to the challenges during medical training programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students faced extra physical and psychological pressure. This study aimed to evaluate sleep quality and depressive symptoms and their possible association among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Results

One hundred twenty-one medical students completed the survey. Twenty-six percent of participants had a good sleep quality. Mean sleep duration of participants was approximately 6 h per day. Moreover, they had a mean sleep latency of 28 min and a mean PSQI score of 7.76. We found the prevalence of moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression among participants to be 22%, 6%, and 7%, respectively. The participants’ mean PHQ-9 score was found to be 8.4

Conclusions

We found a relatively high depression rate, poor sleep quality, and a significant inverse relationship between sleep quality and depression severity score among medical students who were doing their clinical rotations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a quarter of moderate to severely depressed participants were taking antidepressants. Our findings highlight the need for future interventional studies that address these issues among medical students

Keywords: Sleep quality – Depression - Medical students - COVID-19