Background and Aim: Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and depression are great public health concerns among adolescents. The aim of this study was to determine the association between PMPU and symptoms of depression, as well as the mediating role of sleep quality. Methods: A total of 4,624 college students participated in this study. The Self-rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use (SQAPMPU), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were administered to assess PMPU, sleep quality, and symptoms of depression. Mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS macro in the SPSS software. Results: Of the participants, 27.5% were classified as PMPU, 44.9% exhibited symptoms of depression, and 15.6% reported sleep problems. Compared with those without PMPU, those with PMPU exhibited higher rates of sleep problems and depressive symptoms. The mediation analysis further revealed partial mediation effects of sleep quality on the association between PMPU and depression. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that PMPU was associated with mental health in college students, and sleep quality played a mediating role in this relationship. Our findings highlight the critical role of early intervention for depression with a focus on those with PMPU and, more specifically, on those with sleep problems.

Purpose Sleep insufficiency and circadian rhythm disturbances in college students have become prominent. Current findings show that sleep insufficiency is closely related to inflammation. Studies on the correlation between chronotype and inflammatory factors are still lacking. Therefore, this research intended to examine the relationships between sleep duration, chronotype and inflammatory cytokines in young adults, and to estimate the correlation between chronotype and inflammatory cytokines stratified by sleep duration. Patients and Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in April and May 2019. Participants were recruited from two colleges located in central China. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Morning and Evening Questionnaire-5 (MEQ-5) were administered to assess sleep duration and chronotype. Sleep duration less than 7 hours was defined as insufficient sleep. Fasting venous blood was collected to measure plasma levels of inflammatory markers including IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10. Results A total of 723 participants were included in this study, with a mean age of 18.68 years (standard deviation=0.99). After adjusting for confounding factors, the results of generalized linear model showed that sleep insufficiency was positively correlated with IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-10; and evening-types (E-types) were positively associated with the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 ( p <0.05). Compared to the control group (sleep sufficiency and M-types), there were positive interaction effects of sleep insufficiency and neutral-types (N-types) on the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10 ( p <0.05). The hierarchical regression model showed that N-types and E-types were positively correlated to the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10 among college students with sleep insufficiency ( p <0.05). Conclusion The levels of inflammatory markers were higher among college students with sleep insufficiency and E-types. N-types and E-types were positively correlated with IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10 among college students with sleep insufficiency.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of chronotype and depressive symptoms among Chinese college students and to examine the association between chronotype and depressive symptoms.Methods: From April to May 2019, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,179 Chinese college students from 2 universities in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. A total of 1,135 valid questionnaires were collected, the valid response rate was 98.6%. The questionnaire investigated age, gender, major, height, weight, only child status, living place, self-reported family economy, and self-reported study burden. The chronotype was assessed by the Morning and Evening Questionnaire (MEQ). Depressive symptoms and sleep quality were evaluated by the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. A Chi-square test was used to examine the proportion of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students with different demographic characteristics. The generalized linear model was used to analyze the relationships between chronotype and depressive symptoms.Results: The proportion of morning types (M-types), neutral types (N-types), and evening types (E-types) of college students were 18.4, 71.1, and 10.5%, respectively. The proportion of mild depression, moderate depression, and moderate to severe depression of participants were 32.4, 6.0, and 4.2%, respectively. Compared to the M-types, after controlled for age, gender, major, sleep quality, self-reported study burden, father's education level, and self-reported family economy, depressive symptoms were positively correlated with E-types (OR = 2.36, 95% CI: 1.49–3.73).Conclusions: There was a significant association between chronotype and depressive symptoms among Chinese college students. Further longitudinal studies were needed to clarify the causal relationship between chronotype and depressive symptoms.

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