Smartphone Addiction, Daytime Sleepiness and Depression among Undergraduate Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study in a Medical College of Kolkata, India

Abstract

Objective: Smartphone addiction has become an emerging problem among the youth, especially among medical students in India. It has the potential to hamper their sleep quality as well act as a precipitating factor for depression. This study thus assessed the magnitude of smartphone addiction, excessive daytime sleepiness and depression among undergraduate medical students in Kolkata and elicited its determinants. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 204 undergraduate medical students in a selected medical college of Kolkata from March to June 2023. Smartphone addiction, daytime sleepiness and depression was assessed using the SAS-SV, EPSS and PHQ-9 questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis was undertaken to determine the associated factors of smartphone addiction, while Spearman’s correlation coefficient was estimated to find the relationship of smartphone addiction with depression and daytime sleepiness. Results: Approximately 29.4% participants were addicted to smartphone, 45.5% were suffering from excessive daytime sleepiness. The depression scores on the PHQ-9 scale showed a mean value of 8.15 (±4.72). Factors significantly associated with smartphone addiction were increasing age (AOR=1.23, 95%CI=1.12-2.21), male gender (AOR=2.12, 95% CI=1.36-3.45) and duration of smart phone usage >6 hours per day (AOR=1.92, 95%CI=1.23-2.45). Smartphone addiction showed positive correlation with both daytime sleepiness (ρ =0.5, p-value<0.05) and depression (ρ=0.23, p-value=0.001) Conclusion: Utmost care should be taken for promoting good mental health and wellbeing among medical students. Motivation and counselling sessions along with peer support groups can help in combating this addictive behaviour and depressive symptoms.

Keywords

• Depression
• Excessive sleepiness
• Medical students
• Smartphone addiction