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

Abstract

Abstract Background Depression and sleep disorders are interrelated and have 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 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, 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
• Depressive symptoms
• Medical students
• COVID-19