Evaluation of Prevalence of Daytime Sleepiness and its Association with Chronotype in Undergraduate Medical and Paramedical Students

Evaluation of Prevalence of Daytime Sleepiness and its Association with Chronotype

Abstract

Background: Daytime sleepiness is a leading cause of impaired academic performance in college students. Disturbed nocturnal sleep and irregular sleep-wake cycle are important causes of excessive daytime sleepiness. Chronotype is the behavioural manifestation of intrinsic circadian rhythm of an organism, and affects timing of activities that govern its 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. Thus, a survey of prevalence daytime sleepiness among various chronotypes in college students is relevant in the current scenario.Objectives: Evaluation of prevalence of Daytime Sleepiness levels and chronotype in target population. Assessment of association of Daytime Sleepiness levels with chronotype, course, and gender of student Assessment of association of among responses to Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, questionnaire based survey of 389 undergraduate medical and paramedical students (aged 17 -21 years) was conducted in Ahmedabad, using 1997 version Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and 2008 version of Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire Self-Assessment (MEQ-SA). Results : Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) was prevalent in 27.5% of students, and had significant association with course of student (p=0.028) and chronotype (p=0.003). Majority of those having EDS (69%) were MBBS students. Evening chronotype was significantly associated with EDS (p=0.033) and had highest prevalence of EDS (43%). Non-significant association was found between EDS and gender (p=0.871). Course pursued by student was found to be significantly associated with his/her chronotype (p=0.004). Total scores obtained on MEQ-SA and ESS were significantly associated (p=0.002) and negatively correlated; suggesting that increasing “morningness†score tended to reduce daytime sleepiness score. Conclusions : EDS is prevalent in undergraduate college students, and is significantly associated with course and evening chronotype [Upadhyah D Natl J Integr Res Med, 2019; 10(4):10-17]