Sleep Quality in Nursing Students: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence Studies

Introduction: Since there are no comprehensive studies, it is important to consolidate data on sleep quality in nursing students. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of poor sleep quality in nursing students worldwide. Materials and Methods: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis registered on the PROSPERO platform, in which primary studies were searched for in LILACS, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, EMBASE, and SAGE in English, Portuguese, and Spanish until May 2024, which had measured the prevalence of sleep quality and had used a scale for that purpose. The Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) methodological guidelines for systematic reviews of observational studies were considered. Quality assessment was performed using the institute’s tool for prevalence studies. A meta-analysis was also done using a random-effects model, and the weighted mean prevalence, the heterogeneity, and publication bias were calculated using the I2 statistic and Egger’s test, respectively. Results: A total of 25 studies were included in the meta-analysis, representing 5,559 nursing students. A low sleep quality prevalence of 65 % (95 % CI .55-.74) was identified, with Latin America being the region with the highest prevalence, 84 % (95 % CI .65-.97), and Europe the lowest, 38 % (95 % CI .23-.54). Conclusion: In most world regions, with a higher prevalence in Latin America, the quality of sleep in nursing students is very low. For this reason, its consequences and effects in the short, medium, and long term must begin to be studied and measured systematically in university training institutions.