FREQUENCY OF INSOMNIA AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG MEDICAL AND DENTAL STUDENTS

Objectives: To determine the frequency of insomnia among medical students and to assess the effects of insomnia on the academic performance of medical and dental students.Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on medical and dental students of Peshawar, after obtaining approval from IREB. A simple random sampling technique was used to collect data through questionnaires distributed among students. The calculated sample size was approximately 153, determined using the WHO sample size formula. Selection criteria included medical and dental students, both males and females aged 18 to 25 years who were willing to participate. Data was collected using the Sleep Quality Scale, an item of question assessing academic performance, and a demographic information sheet. Data was stratified in different age groups and by gender. As variables in our study were qualitative so chi-square test was applied to fi nd the association between qualitative variables. A p value of P<0.05 was considered significant.Results: In this study,153 students were enrolled. Out of these 37% were females and 62% were males.Prevalence was found to be 46%. 92% of participants were in the age range of 21 to 23 years. The prevalence of poor-quality sleep was 18% among medical and dental students while 54% rated their sleep quality as good even after sleeping for 5 to 6 hours at night. 53% of participants took 15-30 minutes to fall asleep and 41% of participants usually got up around 10 am during the past month. A signifi cant association p< 0.05 was found between Pittsburg sleep quality index and academic performance with a P-value of 0.04. Conclusion: From the result of our study, it was concluded that Insomnia or bad sleep quality effects the academic performance of medical and dental students.