Assessment of Sleep Quality among Medical Doctors in a Tertiary Hospital in a Semi-Rural Setting

Abstract

Introduction:Sleep is an integral part of human physiology; therefore, disorders of sleep may result in significant derangement in human functionality. Sleep medicine has received little attention in Nigeria. Against this backdrop, this survey seeks to evaluate the quality of sleep among doctors.Methodology:This was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 59 doctors working with Federal Medical Centre Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria; it was done between August 2017 and December 2017. Purposive sampling method was adopted. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were adopted. The questionnaire was self-administered.Results:There were 34 (57.6%) males and 25 (42.4%) females. Their age ranged from 20 to 66 years, with a mean of 34.39 ± 8.00. The Epworth score ranged from 8 to 29, with a mean of 16.1 ± 4.4, while the PSQI score ranged from 5 to 19, with a mean of 9.5 ± 2.7. The mean work hour per week was 90.3 ± 36.2 h, and majority of the respondents worked for >80 h and or >24 h consecutively in the preceding week, and most had high ESS scores; however, this observation was not statistically significant (Fisher's exact test = 4.0904, P = 0.213). All respondents were poor sleepers and majority sleep for <7 h in the night. Respondents had worked for 5 years and less; house officers and medical offers had more tendencies for daytime sleepiness.Conclusion:All respondents were poor sleepers and also had prolonged work hours per week; there was also heightened daytime sleepiness.

Sleep quality and psychological morbidity among physicians in southwest Nigeria

“…Sleep deprivations and disorders are a silently growing epidemic among physicians especially those in traditional working time schedules (5). Poor sleep quality have been reported from studies from almost all the regions of the world, indicating similar nature of medical duties worldwide (2-5), High rate of psychological distress have been reported among several cadre of physicians (5,6).…”

“…In many countries, Nigeria inclusive, traditional working schedules, long working hours and on-call duties are still very much in practice. Previous studies have documented high rates of poor sleep quality among doctors in Nigeria [6]. However, there is a significant dearth of information on the factors that contribute to poor sleep quality, and its relationship with psychological distress among physicians.…”

Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Emotional Regulation and the Immune System of Healthcare Workers as a Risk Factor for COVID 19: Practical Recommendations From a Task Force of the Latin American Association of Sleep Psychology

“…The literature maintains that behavioral and cognitive intervention strategies ( Mullins et al, 2014 ; Aliyu et al, 2018 ; Marín Agudelo et al, 2019 ; Almondes, 2020 ; Altena et al, 2020 ; Federation Latin-American of Sleep Societies, 2020 ; Holding et al, 2020 ) can be applied as preventive measures for health personnel, in addition to the classic norms of sleep hygiene and finding preventive measures before work and operative measures during work ( Table 2 ).…”