The Worldwide Prevalence of Sleep Problems Among Medical Students by Problem, Country, and COVID-19 Status: a Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression of 109 Studies Involving 59427 Participants

Abstract

Purpose of Review Several studies have found that medical students have a significant prevalence of sleep issues, such as poor sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, and inadequate sleep duration. The purpose of this review is to carefully evaluate the current research on sleep problems among medical students and, as a result, estimate the prevalence of these disturbances. The EMBASE, PsychINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science and retrieved article reference lists were rigorously searched and rated for quality. Random effects meta-analysis was performed to compute estimates. Recent Findings The current meta-analysis revealed an alarming estimated pooled prevalence of poor sleep quality (K = 95, N = 54894) of 55.64% [95%CI 51.45%; 59.74%]. A total of 33.32% [95%CI 26.52%; 40.91%] of the students (K = 28, N = 10122) experienced excessive sleepiness during the day. The average sleep duration for medical students (K = 35, N = 18052) is only 6.5 h per night [95%CI 6.24; 6.64], which suggests that at least 30% of them get less sleep than the recommended 7–9 h per night. Summary Sleep issues are common among medical students, making them a genuine problem. Future research should focus on prevention and intervention initiatives aimed at these groups. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40675-023-00258-5.

Prevalence of Insomnia and Factors Influencing Its Incidence in Students of Tbilisi State Medical University: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The factor that a majority of our participants reported to have a major effect on their sleep was excessive workload (71.30%), followed by mental health (68%), and improper sleep hygiene (65%). Furthermore, the average reported duration of sleep on a normal day at university from our study was five hours and 18 minutes which is lower than that reported by the meta-analysis of 109 research papers at six hours 30 minutes hours [12].…”

El sueño de los universitarios. Los logros y desafíos para las universidades promotoras de la Salud

“…En esa línea, la revisión de Jahrami et al (2022) evidenció una prevalencia estimada de problemas de sueño del 41.16 % en estudiantes procedentes de 49 países de los diferentes continentes del mundo. Asimismo, la problemática se habría incrementado enormemente en los estudiantes de medicina, tal como lo indican los resultados de un meta-análisis que halló una prevalencia con estimación mundial del 57 % para una mala calidad del sueño y de 33 % para la somnolencia excesiva durante el día (Binjabr et al, 2023).…”

Sleep quality and associated factors among university students in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis study

“…For instance, in a global systematic review and meta-analysis study conducted on sleep disruption in medicine students and its relationship with impaired academic performance, 39.8% of them reported having poor sleep quality (93). The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 51.45% in the global systematic review and meta-analysis study on the prevalence of sleep problems among 59427 medical students from 109 Studies 19). However, the sub-group analysis in the current meta-analysis studies showed that the prevalence of poor sleep quality, specifically among African medical students was 60.33 (95% CI: 54.96-65.69).…”

“…Poor sleep quality was found to be highly prevalent among medical students 55.64% according to a global meta-analysis study (19). A cross-sectional study was carried out in seven countries the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guyana, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and Sudan, and the prevalence of sleep quality among university students was found to be 73.5% (20).…”